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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28476531">Better Man</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sourlander/pseuds/Sourlander'>Sourlander</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Armitage Hux Has Feelings, Armitage Hux Lives, Armitage Hux Needs A Hug, Brendol Hux's A+ Parenting, Eventual Smut, Everyone is Dead, Fix it of sorts, Fluff and Smut, Gingerpilot, Hux has his own agenda, M/M, Mentioned Brendol Hux, No Beta, Poe Dameron Needs A Hug, Political Alliances, Prisoner Poe Dameron, Protective Armitage Hux, Realising you were wrong the whole time after all, Spy Armitage Hux, The First Order won the war</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:49:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>88,451</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28476531</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sourlander/pseuds/Sourlander</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The battle of Exegol is over. The Sith Fleet is destroyed. Only a handful of First Order ships remain as the Final Order and the Resistance lie in ruins on the windswept planet below.<br/>As Armitage Hux is ordered to lead a search party for their Supreme Leader, he is contacted by another team. They have extracted one sole survivor from his broken X-Wing. Poe Dameron is alive. And he needs to be put to good use for the sake of the First Order and the entire galaxy.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Poe Dameron/Armitage Hux</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>222</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>118</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So... here we are. I was prompted by a fellow gingerpilot stan on a wonderful new Discord server. Enjoy this angsty gingerpilot fic. I'm not sure how often I will update, given that this is my fourth WIP, but what better start to a new year than publishing the first chapter of a new fic. Right? Right.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everything lay in ruins. The nearly empty surface of the planet below was now littered with nothing but scrap metal and spare parts. Blackened grey fragments of former battle cruisers and fighters against the grey, infinitely flat ground rose up to greet him, smouldering and laughing at him.</p><p>He had failed. They all had. Each and every one in their own way. This was no victory. No matter how fervently Pryde said that it was. The moment Hux had seen him after being released from the infirmary, the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach had taken hold of him, making him feel sick.</p><p>At least his cover wasn’t blown.</p><p>At least he was still alive.</p><p>In a few years this would all still be here. Just like the wreckage of Imperial Star Destroyers was still strewn all over Jakku. Only this time there was no sand to swallow them up and bury them under its heavy weight. These would not be forgotten. Never. Nothing would bury them. Nothing would ever end this. And when, in a thousand years, someone came upon this place, they would see the windswept ruins of a crumbling citadel in which not even the bones of their officers would remain. Nothing but the rotting debris of the rotting Star Destroyers would they find, its components stripped apart for what might still be useful for the Order now. The stone from which the citadel had been constructed would only add to the dirt covering the smooth surface. Already it was nothing more than a sawn off pyramid, the seams of the wreckage from where the two Star Destroyers had simultaneously hit it coming apart from the ionized wind whipping across it.</p><p>For a moment he wondered if he remembered Jakku at all, but he recalled so little of it. Even now as history had repeated itself. In a way. The difference was small but significant. Their new fleet was gone, blown up in a chain reaction nobody could have foreseen who hadn’t spotted the flaw in the design. But someone had. Someone who had died in the skirmish. But the Resistance was gone too. Not a single ship remained. Not a single fighter was left.</p><p>Not one.</p><p>At least some part of their own fleet still remained. Scattered across the galaxy and ten Destroyers of the First Order were still orbiting the planet. That was not nothing. It was indeed far more than they’d had when the Order was first formed after the Empire’s final defeat over Jakku.</p><p>             Armitage Hux stood in Pryde’s office situated over the bridge of the <em>Steadfast</em>, staring down at what once would have meant the end of the Order as he knew it. A First Order elevated to the status of Final Order in name, when in reality it had been nothing but a destruction of what he’d once strived to make great.</p><p>             He felt the eyes of Pryde resting on him, knew he had to play his cards exactly right now. Not just for his own sake. His stance was upright, despite the throbbing pain in his side, while his innards twisted and coiled and one single bead of cold sweat ran down his spine.</p><p>             “At least we will not need to start again from scratch as we did the last time,” Pryde said after he had given Hux some time to take it all in, his voice cool and calculating.</p><p>             “Where is the Supreme Leader?” Hux asked, his voice only barely masking the tension in him. Pryde might take it for concern.</p><p>Let him.</p><p>Now was not the time for sentiment. He needed to act like he cared about the survival of it all. About Ren most of all.</p><p>             “His ship was found next to the ruins of the citadel. Next to an old X-Wing. Go down there. See what you find. There are already several search and rescue teams down there, even if we can’t make out any life signs. If Leader Ren is alive, we need to greet him with an officer from High Command at least.”</p><p>             Hux’s head snapped around at the words. “Allegiant General-“</p><p>             “Do I need to repeat myself?” The watery blue eyes were fixed on him and Armitage felt his own heart plummet. He could be dead, he reminded himself. Put to trial and executed. Or shot straight away. If it came out what he’d done, he <em>was</em> dead. No doubt about it. Pryde would see to it personally.</p><p>             But no… no, it hadn’t come out. It wouldn’t.</p><p>             Not with the Resistance gone.</p><p>             There was nobody left to tell the tale.</p><p>             All that was left was to live another day. To keep fighting for survival.     </p><p>             “Of course not, Sir,” he said, his voice assuming the trained firmness it always held. He was grateful for the painkillers the medics had given him after they had treated his injuries. At least he was able to walk more or less upright as he passed Pryde, holding the steely gaze just long enough for the other man to realize he was neither afraid of what he was sent to do, nor a traitor. Because it was obvious that Pryde didn’t trust him. Nobody did. And that had to change if he was to live. If he was to fight another day.</p><p>             “Report back immediately, General Hux.”</p><p>             “Yes, Sir.”</p><p>             To think there had been a time when he thought himself unstoppable. Invincible even. What was he now? Nothing but a lackey reporting to one of his father’s old comrades. Nothing but the person sent to fetch Ren and face the Supreme Leader’s wrath. Who best to send on a mission like that than the one General who could be spared the most.</p><p>             Hux felt bile rising in his throat as he strode towards the door, all the while thinking what he could have done differently. Of all the possible outcomes of this day, he would not have imagined it to be like this.</p><p> </p><p>“Sir, the entrance is blocked.”</p><p>             Hux eyes only briefly darted to the squad leader who had approached him. <em>Entrance.</em> Call that a euphemism. He looked up at the thousands of tonnes of ancient stone looming above them, only held up by four pillars on the edges of the building. What a wasteful piece of engineering.</p><p>             There should be a lift of some sort in the centre, leading them down into what had been Emperor Palpatine’s base of operations. Instead, all that could be seen by the lights the Stormtroopers were casting, was the thin outline of what must be the platform. “No energy signatures?”</p><p>             “Barely any, Sir.”</p><p>             “Well, that’s not nothing,” Hux snapped. “Open it up. Slice it. Whatever it takes.”</p><p>             The Stormtrooper nodded sharply, then returned to the others assembled a few paces away and Hux remembered only just in time that taking a deep breath in this dusty, heavily ionized atmosphere might not be the best of ideas. His side was starting to ache again and he silently cursed FN-2187 for shooting him in the side. The arm or the leg would have done the job just as well. And it had all been for nothing. Relaying information for months, freeing them, telling them which route to take back to their scrap heap of a ship. FN-2187 shooting him.</p><p>             Frowning, he looked back at their shuttle while the two squads of Stormtroopers and the engineers started working. He had a feeling they might need a Force sensitive person to get the mechanism working, and although Hux had next to no patience with this magic nonsense, he had to admit it was a clever way of keeping people out. Elegant even.</p><p>             Ignoring the goosebumps spreading over his skin, he pursed his lips as he frowned at the wreckage of the fleet strewn about. Did it even make sense wondering about the radiation levels at this point anymore? Probably not. At least the search and rescue teams now scouring the wreckage of both the Resistance and Sith fleet were wearing the appropriate protective gear. What would they find? What might still be salvageable? The next few days would show. But they could not stay here. They had no time to lose. The First Order would slip back into the known regions and keep reforming the galaxy. It was high time to abandon this place.</p><p>             The bitter taste in his mouth was still there. Decades of scheming and planning and organising… everything had been for this, and to think he had believed he was the one pulling most of the strings…</p><p>             All those resources. Gone to waste. All those people. Lost and gone. And although Armitage Hux hated wastefulness, he had no illusions about what his prospects would have been hat the so called Sith Fleet survived. The Final Order would never accommodate the officers who had made the First Order what it was. He would have been obsolete. So would be each and every single officer and Stormtrooper who had struggled through these past thirty years.</p><p>Pryde must know that. He must know that he would have been superfluous soon enough. But his devotion to that damn Emperor made him blind. Even now. Even if he must be aware that, if the Emperor didn’t issue any more orders, if the Supreme Leader didn’t start ordering them about the second the fleet was destroyed, both must be incapable of doing so.</p><p>His heart leapt at the prospect, but he was not fool enough to think this could possibly be the end of his struggle with Pryde and the other few remaining remnants of the old Empire. He had to be clever now. Clever and swift as he took over the reigns.</p><p>The soft, crackling beeping sound in his ear made him frown. The static in the air made communication bumpy to say the least, but at least it worked.</p><p>“General Hux, come in.” Mitaka. He was alive then.</p><p>Hux ignored the wave of relief washing over him. “This is Hux.” He took a few steps away from the engineers now busy prying open a lid of sorts inlaid into the dirt-covered ground next to the platform.</p><p>Most of the citadel had been destroyed when the Destroyers crashed into it. He was sure there were no survivors and he didn’t even want to think about its structural integrity, no matter what the initial scans of the head engineer had proclaimed.</p><p>“General, we have found an X-Wing that’s as good as intact. The pilot is alive. Two clicks south of the citadel.”</p><p>Hux turned his head, looking in the direction where Mitaka and his men must be at this moment. One survivor. Amidst all this destruction and wreckage where next to no ship had survived intact. To think that a rebel of all people should have survived this was devastating. His stomach twisted painfully as he remembered the heated argument he’d had with one of his superiors over ten years ago. About how TIEs needed better shielding. About their dwindling resources… and here it was. Yet another proof that he had been right all along. The Rebellion’s X-Wings might not be as manoeuvrable or as swift as the TIEs, but they were sturdier. Far sturdier. Not that a lot of them could have survived the explosions and the Star Destroyers picking them off one by one, but he doubted there were any TIEs out there that were more than dust. “Can you make out who it is?”</p><p>“Yes, Sir.” There was a brief pause, during which Hux balled his hands into fists. “Sir, it’s Dameron.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Just a quick note, the last passage is a bit confusing, but that's intentional. Hope you like this chapter too.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Nothing but a tangle of black and white robes sprawled at his feet and two cylindrical objects.</p><p>            It was all that was left in the ruins of the citadel if you didn’t count the rubble. And Armitage didn’t. Not, at least, until the engineers he had ordered down here made him believe otherwise. There were traces of destroyed lab equipment with grotesque failed body parts in the outer chamber and the stench of cold dust and ozone was nearly unbearable, but all Hux could focus on were the items of clothing at his feet and the two grimy lightsaber hilts lying amidst them. They were the same length, their design was slightly different, one silver and black, utilitarian in looks mostly, the other made of silver and copper, the outside a bit slimmer. Hux would have recognized them for what they were even if he hadn’t spent the past few years of his life watching Ren wield his own like a maniac whenever something displeased him.</p><p>            He bent over to pick them up. They lay heavy in his hands as he scrutinized them with narrowed eyes. “Pick these up,” he ordered one of the Troopers standing by, nodding at the fabrics lying at his feet, soiled with blood, and dirt before he addressed Lieutenant  Kandia who had joined them a few minutes ago. “Take them to forensics. I want to know whose these are.” He had an inkling, and, really, there wasn’t a lot to think about. But he needed to be entirely sure, his claims needed to be reaffirmed by evidence.</p><p>            “Yes, General.” The younger woman didn’t meet his eyes and her voice sounded hollow in the vast expanse of the cavern, but Hux paid her no further attention.</p><p>            If one thing was certain, it was that Ren wasn’t here. Neither was the scavenger girl, or Palpatine for that matter. His eyes trailed up the ceiling, falling only briefly on the cracks in the stone flooring and the abyss at the edge of the room. Faceless statues stood surrounding them, their presence still foreboding even if nothing but stale air and destruction remained. He had never been interested in art, not when it didn’t suit his purposes, but he couldn’t deny the effect the sheer size of these broken monuments had.</p><p>What had happened here nobody would ever know. He was sure of it. One thing he did know however, was that both Ren and that nameless scavenger had gone in here, following the Knights of Ren, never to return. Maybe a probe droid would find their bodies at the bottom of the abyss… Maybe. But had they jumped in their naked? That didn’t even match Ren’s theatrical character.</p><p>            With a sneer, Hux turned away from the scene and slowly made his way back towards the exit where other, less important corpses lay now. The Knights of Ren were gone too. Not a big loss, he thought as he straightened his shoulders and forced himself to walk faster and ignore the throbbing pain in his side. It was high time he returned to the <em>Steadfast</em> and made sure Dameron didn’t spill his secret. Not now. The narrow dagger rested reassuringly against his lower arm, hidden, as usual in the hilt of his sleeve. He could do this. Only this last obstacle needed to be eliminated before he could make other plans.</p><p> </p><p>Warmth.</p><p>            It was the first thing he felt.</p><p>            Hadn’t there just been heat? Scorching, unrelenting heat?</p><p>            He tried swallowing, but his mouth was too dry.</p><p>            There were shadows looming over him. Talking. Their Basic unnaturally sharp around the edges. One voice was metallic. There were no words, not that he could make them out, though he knew that he must know them.</p><p>            When had he opened his eyes anyway? Where was the pain?</p><p>“His blood pressure is too low.” The first words he could make out clearly and his eyelids fluttered against the bright white light. He balled his hands into fists, wishing he knew where he was. Who these people were.</p><p>            “Wake him up,” a commanding voice said. A voice he didn’t recognize. “Now!”</p><p>            There was a sharp stab of pain in his arm and the warmth on his skin dimmed in contrast to the soaring heat spreading up from where the pain had been. With a gasp, he squeezed his eyes tightly shut. The heat spread faster, like flames licking up his arm, and it was as though a veil had been lifted from over him and only now did he realize that the air he was breathing was cool and clean, reeking of disinfectant.</p><p>            “General Poe Dameron.”</p><p>            That voice again. A stranger’s voice. That accent… A bit like Rey’s, but more severe. He let out a long breath. “That’s my name,” he muttered despite himself, his tongue barely able to keep track of the words he was saying. They sounded weird, even to his own ears. Slow. Slurred. Like he was drunk. The effort of that one sentence already left him breathless.</p><p>            Blinking, he opened his eyes fully and tried to lift his hand to pass it over his face. He couldn’t. The ceiling overhead was so white it hurt his head. Fingers closed around his chin. Fingers that felt weird. Leathery… of course, he thought as his head was turned roughly to the left and he spotted the familiar symbol on the cap worn by the thin man. He looked young. Cool, grey eyes. High cheekbones. Lips that had probably never smiled their whole lives. “Do you understand what I’m saying?” the young man asked roughly.</p><p>            Yes… yes he did. His eyes were burning, his skin was on fire, but with a rush only lab-made medicine could provide, he felt his senses returning. “Yeah,” he rasped, trying to lift his hand again. To no avail. There it was… the metal around his wrist.</p><p>            “You-“ he began, his tongue still unwilling to obey him, but the man cut him off.</p><p>            “Poe Dameron, in the name of the Final Order, you are under arrest.”</p><p>            Poe nearly laughed. Nearly. He didn’t even manage the roguish grin that statement deserved. “Sure,” he rasped instead. “You’ve tried that before. Didn’t stick.” He could barely make out his own words, and he doubted the other man could. What the hell was wrong with him? Where were the others?</p><p>            The man raised his eyebrow, then nodded at someone else. “Transfer him to a cell once he’s ready.”</p><p>            A cell… Final Order… What? For a moment his brain felt like slippery mush. “Where am I?” he muttered though he felt the knowledge teetering on the edge of his consciousness. His hand tried jerking up, but he couldn’t move it. The metal was cool against his skin, the light causing his head to ache…</p><p>            Hadn’t he been there before? Hadn’t he…</p><p>            The warmth was settling over him like a heavy blanket and his eyes fell shut. He tried lifting his hand.</p><p>            Nothing.</p><p>            It wouldn’t move.</p><p>            Cool metal against his skin and a massive explosion, throwing him off-course. Finn had done it. His heart skipped a beat when the first Star Destroyer was set ablaze and started losing altitude. BB-8 squealed loudly in his ear and he knew there was nothing else he could do. No way of calling for help. No way to slice through whatever signal was blocking their comms.</p><p>            He had no more control over his fighter than he did over the Sith Fleet now going up into flames one by one. They were the last real thing he saw.</p><p>            The last thing, before the ground drew ever closer and he tried, one last time, to pull the stick towards him to pull his fighter out of the nose-dive.</p><p>            His heart wasn’t racing. Not at all. Somehow he’d known. Somehow he’d always known it wound end like this. BB-8 squealed once more and Poe closed his eyes, preparing for the crash. “Sorry, buddy,” he muttered, his hand still on the stick, unwavering, unrelenting. But it didn’t do any good. No good at all.</p><p>            He blinked. The white overhead was making his head throb.</p><p>            Finn. Where was he? And Rey? Rose?</p><p>            He tried moving his hand. To no avail. The metal was cold against his skin.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for welcoming this fic with open arms. It was incredible reading all those comments and, as usual, I'm going to answer them all. Thank you very much for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>Of course his return to the <em>Steadfast</em> did not go unnoticed. He did not doubt for a moment that it would, but he hadn’t expected Pryde to be waiting for him in the hangar once the shuttle set down.</p><p>             Hux stood on top of the ramp, the two lightsabers still in his hands, but when he saw Pryde waiting, he casually handed them to one of the Stormtroopers standing at attention inside the transport. “Take these to my quarters,” he said quietly before turning back towards Pryde and taking care to let nothing of his surprise show on his face.</p><p>             “What was that?”</p><p>             “Lightsabers, Allegiant General.” Hux looked over his shoulder at the four Stormtroopers now following him into the hangar and heading off towards one of the exits. “Two of them. I took a look at them on the way up here, but could not make out anything specific.”</p><p>             Pryde looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but didn’t comment further. Armitage knew what the Allegiant General was waiting for. He forced his eyes to remain on his superior, wishing he had the guts and chance to plunge his knife into the older man’s heart there and then. The thought occurred every once in a while and it was not the worst of images to conjure up in his mind. Especially not when neither Ren, nor Snoke or any other insane Force wielder was nearby.</p><p>             Folding his hands behind his back, Hux reminded himself that the time had not yet come. He could act now. Yes, he could. But what then? He couldn’t stab the current leader of the Final Order and then assume his position. “Sir, no bodies could be found beneath the citadel. Only those lightsabers and a pile of clothes in the rubble. Those are being taken to forensics.”</p><p>             For a moment Pryde merely looked at him, then he nodded, as though he was not entirely sure he could trust what Hux was saying.</p><p>             It was all for show, although there was nobody but them within earshot. Pryde wanted him to know he still thought little of him. Still wanted him to feel the power he was holding over him. He could easily command him to do menial work and was not expected to acknowledge his results. “Follow me.”</p><p>             He allowed himself a fraction of a second to calm his nerves before he fell into step with Pryde. The throbbing in his side was growing worse, but he’d be damned if he let Pryde see. He made sure to remain half a step behind Pryde as they made their way through the hangar and the transport reserved for senior officers at the end of it. “May I ask what this is about?”</p><p>             “Dameron,” Pryde said curtly, as though the thought of the man alone was so disgusting, he could barely stand thinking more about it than was strictly necessary.</p><p>             Hux’s mouth twitched in surprise He couldn’t help it. “Sir?” he breathed. They had reached the transport now and Hux followed him inside. “Lieutenant Mitaka found him. Dameron is in the infirmary as we speak.”            Raising an eyebrow, Hux watched Pryde type in a command into the panel on the left of the door.</p><p>             “Yes, I am aware. On the <em>Vengeance. </em>We have no use of him here.” Pryde scoffed. “While you were on the planet, High Command decided what is to be done with him.”</p><p>             High Command… Hux balled his hands into fists behind his back and the sound of the leather of his gloves cracking softly practically rang within the small confines of the transport. He was part of High Command. The thought that Pryde had sent him on that damn, futile mission just so High Command could meet without him, decide on Dameron’s fate and set a precedence he had no influence over, made him want to protest. And he could not let this stand. Not even now. He could not let this slip out of his grasp too. Not with the Final Order having been dealt such a blow. Yes, this battle had been won, but at what cost? “Why wasn’t I asked to participate in the decision-making process?”</p><p>             Pryde eyed him for a moment, the flicker of a smile on his thin lips, reminding him of the way Pryde had sometimes looked at his father. A look that was nothing but a feeble image of pity, when the flared nostrils suggested pleasure at his humiliation. “How typical of you to ask about yourself and not about a strategically important prisoner.”</p><p>             A million retorts shot through his mind, every single one more desperate and foolish than the other. He forced his face to remain impassive as he looked at Pryde with narrowed eyes. He <em>would be</em> in High Command again. He <em>needed </em>to be there if he was to protect everything he had gained and built. Giving up now was out of the question. And if that meant sucking up to this man, then so be it. He’d done worse, and he needed to be careful now. “What do you need, General?” He couldn’t bring himself to say the whole title. Not even in his predicament could he do it. Not right now with the anger barely kept at bay. It was one indulgence he allowed himself, and at the same time it was one he might very well regret later on.</p><p>             The door slid open and they were in the corridor leading up to the bridge. “High Command needs you to supervise the prisoner and the clean-up of the planet. Another sweep of the surface suggests that there are only about two thousand survivors, none of them are rebels. The survivors will be transported to the <em>Vengeance</em> for recovery. Your orders,” he said, as he stepped off the transporter. Just one single step. Not far enough to allow Hux to leave as well, “are to stay with the <em>Vengeance.</em> Oversee the recovery. Persuade Dameron to join in our cause.”</p><p>             Hux felt bile rising in his throat as he held Pryde’s gaze. “He will never do that,” he said, feeling a chill run down his spine. Why wasn’t Dameron on death row? Why was he supposed to live? Hux could not let this happen. He could not let Dameron be subjected to interrogation again. It was far too dangerous. “Our interrogation techniques failed, only the Supreme Leader-“</p><p>             “Find another way then,” Pryde hissed, approaching him again one finger raised threateningly. “You are supposed to be a clever man. The galaxy is in chaos and the Final Order needs to reaffirm her grip on rebelling systems. General Poe Dameron, leader of the Resistance needs to be the one to convince them if we intend to keep the collateral damage we need to cause as small as possible. Your transfer is effective immediately, Hux. Do not disappoint me.”</p><p>             Those steely grey eyes held his for another moment, then Pryde turned away, leaving Hux standing there.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I know the chapters here are fairly short, but at least I can update more regularly like this. The next chapter will be entirely Poe POV. </p><p>What are your thoughts?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>His mind was still fuzzy when he woke up again, but at least he knew where the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach was coming from. It made cold sweat appear on his skin and he shivered underneath the thin blanket. It wasn’t cold exactly, but it wasn’t warm either. it was just… there.</p><p>             Poe still didn’t open his eyes, but he could make out the familiar sound of humming engines. <em>Not in hyperspace</em> he thought. That would sound different. Or would it? Probably.</p><p>             There were no voices this time. No buzzing, no beeping, and his head was much clearer than it had been last time. And yet he felt like he wasn’t alone. Like he was being watched. Unfriendly eyes trained on him, urging him to wake up.</p><p>
  <em>Poe Dameron, in the name of the Final Order, you are under arrest.</em>
</p><p>Was the firing squad already by the door?</p><p>A prisoner. That was what he was… a prisoner. Why wasn’t he dead?</p><p>Why bother with a firing squad? Poison would do just fine… but nobody could make a big scene of that.</p><p>             He blinked, the pressure in his stomach too much to bear and he felt the contents of his stomach shifting, he tried turning to the side, but his hands were still tied down. He closed his eyes shut against the bright whiteness surrounding him and at least turned his head to the side, when he heard someone cursing and release the bindings on his left, turning him around, holding his shoulders so Poe could hurl off the bed just in time. The splattering sound was as sickening as the sight of the yellowish clear puddle on the gleaming, otherwise spotless floor.</p><p>             He heard the other voice issue another growling curse, but Poe didn’t get the chance to lift his eyes and see who it was. He had no interest in facing yet another First Order officer. The next wave of nausea hit him like another punch in the gut and he heaved again, the pain of it ripping through his body, making him gasp and shudder while the hand on his shoulder remained the only thing to keep him from falling off the narrow bed. “I will call a droid to clean this up, Dameron.” The voice sounded resigned and… angry.</p><p>             “Hux?” Poe gasped when he was finally done, closing his eyes again and falling back against the hard surface he was lying on.</p><p>             “Yes.”</p><p>             Before Poe could lift his hand to wipe his mouth, Hux pressed something into his palm. Rough, coarse, flexible. Paper…a paper towel?</p><p>             “Don’t tell me you can’t do this yourself.”</p><p>             Poe couldn’t help it. He grinned into the darkness behind his closed eyelids. Hux was here…the spy was here.</p><p>He’d get him out.</p><p>He’d make sure he got back to the Resistance. That was why he wasn’t dead yet. He took a shuddering breath and wiped his mouth. The bitter taste remained, but at least he wasn’t alone. Hux might be a slimeball and a jerk, but he’d helped them before.</p><p>             Poe opened his eyes then, looking to his left to where Hux had been mere moments ago and who was now a few feet to the side, typing something into his datapad. Poe was still in the infirmary. Still in a brightly lit room with white walls and the walls were just as white and gleaming as the floor. Such a sickening, cold place.</p><p>             “Hux?”</p><p>             “The droid will be here in two minutes.” Hux was frowning as he stared at his pad. Upright, shoulders squared. How did he manage it? Look this impeccable only a few hours after Finn had shot him. Had it been hours? Had it been days? Poe’s stomach gave another lurch, but the urge to throw up was gone. There was nothing left in him.</p><p>             He tried sitting up, but his right arm was still stuck. Chained to the bed. “Listen, usually I’m all for the occasional bondage experiment, but could we maybe loose the cuffs?”</p><p>             His flappant remark was met with an icy stare. Hux’s eyes were green. Beautiful, even in the way they glared at him now, nostrils flaring, jaw set. Carefully, almost lovingly, Hux placed his datapad on a narrow table and folded his hands behind his back. His eyes travelled over Poe’s face, his expression unreadable. “Are you… well?” he asked through gritted teeth.</p><p>             “I don’t feel like throwing up right now, if that’s what you mean.”</p><p>             Hux nodded curtly, then walked around the table, taking care not to step into the puddle of sick and waved his wrist over a sensor just as a small utility flap by the door opened and a small clean-up droid whizzed inside. Droid… Poe felt his heart contract painfully as he watched the little thing get to work and he sat up, the thin blanket sliding off his torso. He wasn’t wearing anything but a shift. What the devil was going on. Somehow he had the feeling that he wasn’t going anywhere soon. Hux was not moving quickly enough for that. “You’re gonna get me out, or what?”</p><p>             Hux took a step back and eyed him with a raised eyebrow. “Where would you go?” he asked simply. “To be shot by the guards standing outside this very door?”</p><p>             “Hux,” Poe said, “You-“</p><p>             Hux cut him off, his nostrils flaring, his eyes travelling suggestively to a spot in the corner above the door. A surveillance camera? Maybe. It wasn’t at all unlikely. “The rebel fleet was destroyed. You <em>have</em> nowhere to go.”</p><p>             The words hit him like a slap in the face. That couldn’t be true. It couldn’t! Rey had brought them to Exegol. More ships would follow! They had to! Finn had fired that gun. He and Finn had worked together to set off this chain reaction. It was Rose’s code that would disable the ships. They had done it. Everything had been in place and- he rubbed his forehead, trying to get rid of the throbbing pain and the dizziness.</p><p>             Why was he here then? Why was he here in this place when everything had gone to plan?</p><p>             The thought settled deep inside his chest like an ice cube.</p><p>             Why was he here if not for the reason Hux had just named?</p><p>             He’d crashed. He’d known it was over, but somehow… he didn’t think… “What is this?” he breathed, looking at Hux again. The man who had shot his own men to keep them alive. To rescue them. The spy who had risked everything to get the information about Palpatine to them. And now that sneer was back. That sneer Poe had seen before in propaganda footage. Aloof. No trace of a suggested alliance left between them. His blood ran cold.</p><p>             “The truth, Dameron. I thought you were in favour of that.” With every word the accent became more pronounced. Sharper somehow, the consonants like barbs of wire.</p><p>             Poe swallowed hard. “What do you mean-“</p><p>             “You heard me,” Hux snapped, his voice even but decisive. A military voice. The kind Poe had outgrown a long time ago. “Your pathetic rebellion has failed.”</p><p>             No. No, it wasn’t true. Was this a game? What… what was this? “No.” Anger was welling up inside his chest now and he swung his legs off the bed, but Hux didn’t take a step back.</p><p>             “You,” Hux added, his eyes flashing menacingly and for the first time Poe thought he caught a flicker of genuine emotion in Hux’s voice, “failed.” Hux narrowed his eyes and held his gaze for a moment. His nostrils were flaring again and his lips twisted in disgust.</p><p>             No.</p><p>             The word hung on his lips. But he couldn’t say it. It would only acknowledge Hux’s statement. Make it sound true. “You’re lying,” he hissed.</p><p>             But Hux didn’t respond to that. He only looked at Poe for another moment while the droid whirred off again, having completed his task. “I am to take you to your cell.”</p><p>             “How long was I out?!” Poe tried to shout, but his voice was hoarse. Far too silent from disuse, but the panic welling up in his chest made it impossible to stay quiet. It wasn’t true. he told himself. It wasn’t true, it wasn’t true, it wasn’t true. He just had to get out of here. He needed to get out and find the others.</p><p>             “Four days,” Hux answered, pointing at a chair Poe hadn’t noticed yet. A white chair with crisp dark fabric folded on top of it. His insides churned when he looked at it. Even from here he could see what it was. “I suggest you get dressed.”</p><p>             “I’m not putting those on,” Poe said, eyes fixed on the black and white stripes on the charcoal grey sleeve. A First Order uniform. With general’s insignia on it. His face twisted in disgust and it took all he had not to burst into tears there and then. “I’d rather go naked.” Prisoner. He was a damn prisoner… and these people were trying to make him one of their own.</p><p>             Hux scoffed and walked over to the narrow table again to pick up his datapad. “I can have you sedated again. Or shot. Whichever you prefer.” It sounded almost sweet the way he said it.</p><p>             Poe didn’t need telling twice. At least Hux turned his back on him when he tentatively stood up, his legs barely willing to carry him. The room started to spin and then tilted to the right, but strong hands were there to catch his fall and push him up against the table. “Warming up to me?” Poe breathed a laugh that wasn’t even half-hearted, aiming for his bravado and failing miserably. The bitter undertone made was bone chilling even in his own ears.</p><p>             Hux shoved him against the bed again and let go.</p><p>             Poe could still feel the strong fingers on his arm when Hux slammed the uniform on the bed next to him.</p><p>             “Do not make me help you play dress-up,” he hissed, taking another step back and focusing his eyes on the datapad instead. The way he stood there. Just out of reach, determined to avoid looking at him. No, he would not get him out of this place. Poe might be a fool sometimes, but he was not that big a fool.</p><p>             “Who are you even?” Poe asked, frowning once the room wasn’t spinning anymore. His naked feet on the floor were icy now. He’d been less comfortable.</p><p>             But Hux didn’t answer. His gloved finger moved over the datapad, as though he was everything but interested in talking, or explaining anything.</p><p>             “Hux?”</p><p>             Still no reaction. Just that annoying demeanour of disinterest.</p><p>             “What was that thing on the<em> Steadf-“</em></p><p>             Hux moved so fast, Poe had no chance to get out of range. Even if he hadn’t felt so sick. The thin blade was against his throat before he’d even taken half a step to the side. Hux was close to him now. So close their noses were almost touching, those green eyes full of hatred and… what? Despair? “Don’t make me regret I didn’t kill you.”</p><p>             Finn… things had been different with Finn. Finn who had taken him from that interrogation room and who had helped him get out. There had been despair in Finn’s eyes as well, but also something else. A spark. Hope for more. Hope that this galaxy held more for him. More than he’d ever seen. Hux looked… dead. His eyes dull with nothingness. Even as he stepped back and slipped the knife back into his sleeve.</p><p>             There was very little talk after that as Poe struggled to slip on the clothes. It was no easy task. His fingers didn’t want to move, and he had to concentrate every fibre of his being not to fall over again. That crash had been bad. Very bad… He doubted BB-8 was still intact. How could he be? He felt tears welling up in his eyes.</p><p>             BB-8.</p><p>             Finn.</p><p>             Rose.</p><p>             Snap.</p><p>             He bit his tongue and fought back the emotions intent on dragging him down. No time for that now. No time to grieve. The time for that would come. Just not right now. He closed his eyes for a moment, slipped into the uncomfortably tight boots and proceeded to button up the black tunic. A layer of warmth settled around his shoulders as the brushed inner fabric slipped over the thin, seamless undershort. Yes, it was warm, but not stiflingly so. The collar and the weird tightness in the shoulders did that. His fingers slipped a few times, the buttons were so small, his fingers so unsure of themselves.</p><p>             <em>Just get on with this.</em></p><p>
  <em>             You just have to get through this.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>             One step at a time.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>             You will get out of this. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>             You always get out of really bad situations.</em>
</p><p>             He would never, never have thought he would wear this… his mind was still racing to catch up with what his eyes were seeing as he looked down his arms. At the bars on his sleeves.</p><p>             He wiped his brow, already exhausted from the effort of putting this thing on. When he turned around, he caught Hux staring at him. Hux… what was his agenda? A month ago, Poe would have been sure he knew what it was. But now… who was this man?</p><p>             Without a word, Hux turned towards the door, leading the way for Poe to follow. Almost courteously he waited by the door, hands behind his back again, the posture attesting to how slim he was.</p><p>             “Where are the others?” Poe asked, though he was sure he didn’t want to hear the answer. Not from Hux.</p><p>             Hux pulled a face. “Dead,” he said curtly, the one syllable sharper than edge of the knife Poe had just felt on his skin.  </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I wrote a version of First Order Poe once, although that was a PoeFinn story, and of course the premise was an entirely different one, but I really like the concept of Poe in uniform. </p><p>What are your thoughts?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ready for another bleak chapter? Here we gooooo...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>Poe was used to ships, but frankly, the sickening cleanliness of First Order vessels was something he would never get used to. There was nothing to say against efficiency and good engineering work, but the way the stormtroopers’ armour was impeccable, the way the floors gleamed and lacked any sign of wear and tear, made him want to tear it all down.</p><p>             He thought of Finn. Of how Finn had grown up on a ship just like this and how he hadn’t been planet side for most of his life until he got to Starkiller. That forseaken, frozen place in the middle of nowhere. The Order had ruined his life.</p><p>             Now they had taken it.</p><p>             Poe quickly pushed the thought away. He couldn’t do this right now. He couldn’t let himself fall apart.</p><p>             It was just one of the many intimidation tactics which the Order pursued, he knew it, and he had felt the oppressiveness of it all after that fateful mission to Jakku. He had underestimated the strength of the enemy then. It was this mistake that had almost cost him everything. It was this mistake which he would probably repeat over and over again, until he was finally executed.</p><p>             Hux didn’t speak as they walked through the seemingly endless corridors and finally boarded a transport, flanked by four Stormtroopers and with every step they took Poe felt his insides churn. He balled his hands into fists. Fists which he could move freely, even though he didn’t have a chance against the soldiers of course. Not four of them. Not when it was all he could do to stand upright even now. They hadn’t cuffed him. They had made him wear this ridiculous uniform. And for what?</p><p>             He looked at Hux, catching his eyes trained on him for a brief second, before the doors slid open again to reveal yet another endless corridor, the bright light panels making his head ache even more and throwing everything in sharp relief. This did not look at all like the corridor in which he had been held the first time, and the farther they went, the more officers in dark uniforms they passed, the tighter the knot in the pit of his stomach became. “What is this, Hux?” he hissed after they had passed about ten doors and they came to a halt before that looked exactly like every single one lining the pristine white walls. Hux nodded at the soldiers, two of which flanked the door, the other two taking up position directly opposite, blasters at the ready.</p><p>             Hux didn’t bother looking at him, only waved his cuff over a sensor embedded inside the door, which slid open immediately to reveal a small dark room with a desk and a narrow bed underneath a viewport which stretched across the wall, the triangular shape overlooking nothing but a grey mass. “Hux?”</p><p>             Still, Hux didn’t answer. He motioned for Poe to enter the room and followed him as soon as he did and the door slid shut behind them.</p><p>             “You find this is no ordinary cell,” Hux said, his back straight, his eyes trained on the window.</p><p>             “No kidding. What the hell, Hux?” Poe wasn’t sure which was creepier. Hux’s attitude, or where they were. And he was losing it. Slowly, but surely he was.</p><p>             “Look.” Hux clasped his hands behind his back again. “Down there.” He nodded at the viewport.</p><p>             “There’s nothing,” Poe said and found that he was moving despite himself, moving closer so he was standing next to Hux. There wasn’t a whole lot of room, they were almost touching. If he acted quickly, he could surely overwhelm him, take that damn knife, cut his throat and… then what?</p><p>             How far would he get in a corridor filled officers. With Stormtroopers waiting right outside the door.</p><p>Poe stared at the loathsome profile.</p><p>This man had ordered the death billions, had led the Stormtrooper program, taking children from their parents so he could use them to fuel this war mashine and then, for some reason, probably out spite or whatever it was that drove him, had turned traitor. “Why are you doing this?”</p><p>             “Look,” Hux said again, his voice having lost a trace of the edge and Poe followed his gaze to the shifting grey clouds amidst a storm that swept the surface of the planet below. Poe felt his heart throb in his throat when he looked at the ruins of what had been the main monument on this wasteland of a world. He spotted what remained of enormous ships, Star Destroyers judging by the shape and size, evidence of the battle that had taken place here. Like scorched skeletons they reached up into the sky and Poe was uselessly waiting for the wave of elation that must grip him at the sight.</p><p>             But it didn’t. The fleet, or at least most of it, was destroyed. They were nothing but spare parts, if that. The citadel was gone.</p><p>             Poe’s mouth was so dry he could barely swallow. The fleet was destroyed and this First Order ship was still in orbit… “What happened?”</p><p>             “The Sith Eternal fleet was destroyed. One chain reaction that wiped it all out. And the rebel fleet with it. Only the ships of the Final Order that had not been built here survived.”</p><p>             Poe took a shaky breath.</p><p>             “It seems you are the only rebel survivor.”</p><p>             Finn... Poe forced himself to keep looking. To keep staring at it all. At this field of death stretching out below them. This couldn’t have happened. This couldn’t be. Where was Rey in all of this? Wasn’t she, a Jedi, supposed to stop this from happening? Hadn’t they come here because Rey had a plan?</p><p>             “What do you want with me then?” he asked breathlessly as another cloud obscured the view. “I-“</p><p>             “The Final Order has need of you, Dameron.” Hux said, his voice tense as he looked at him again. “The galaxy has need of you.” His mouth twitched as though every word he was saying tasted bitter. “It is time to bring peace and order. You are the figurehead of the rebellion.”</p><p>             Poe almost laughed. So that was why he was forced to dress up like this. “And you’re my babysitter?” He was grinning now. He couldn’t help himself. “Kill me now and be done with it. You know how to work in the shadows, don’t you? Make it look like an accident.”</p><p>             “Do not make me regret I haven’t done it, yet,” Hux said, taking a step towards the door. “You are part of the Final Order now, your rank is strictly ceremonial, but we need to keep appearances. That is why you are stationed here. This cell is equipped for your basic needs, but there are no amenities reserved for a true general.“ His green eyes locked on Poe’s for a moment, then he pointed at the desk. “I suggest you keep quiet about our… talk on the <em>Steadfast.</em> For your own good.”</p><p>             Amenities… screw that! He wanted out! “Where’s my stuff?” Poe demanded instead. “My clothes, my ship, my droid.”</p><p>             Hux raised his eyebrows quizzically. “I suppose if they haven’t been destroyed yet, they will be in forensics. You have no further need of them.”</p><p>             “I’m not cooperating.”</p><p>             “You will not have a choice,” Hux said coolly, pointing at the desk. “You have access to a restricted news feed on this datapad. Nothing more. Make use of it.” His nostrils flared. “Enjoy the view.”</p><p>             “I want my stuff!” Poe shouted, but Hux was unimpressed. He merely opened the door with his cuff again and slipped outside. Poe caught a glimpse of the Stormtroopers standing at attention before Hux looked at him again, face unreadable in the blindingly bright light outside. “Hux!” But the door closed and Poe fell on the bed, his hands shaking as he longed to reach for the chain he’d worn around his neck his entire adult life.</p><p>             His gaze was drawn to the viewport again. To the mass of destruction hidden by a layer of clouds amid the rough winds that made flying hard and fighting even harder. With burning eyes he couldn’t help but stare at the whirlwinds below and the occasional skeletal finger of a Destroyer reaching out at him in mockery. The Sith Fleet was gone, but the war was still lost. Their entire fleet destroyed. For a brief moment there, Poe thought that, maybe, Hux was lying. Maybe this was nothing but a ruse. But his gut told another story.</p><p>             He leaned against the icy viewport, eye streaming with tears. They would not do this to him, if they weren’t sure of their victory. The First Order, didn’t play games like this.</p><p>             Poe didn’t even bother to wipe his face. Closing his eyes, he felt the weight of the past few years come crushing down on him. They were gone. All of them.</p><p>             And all was lost.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Poe's alone in his "cell". More insights into Hux's thoughts in the next chapter. </p><p>Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong></strong>
  
  <br/>
</p><p> </p><p>The words were still ringing in his ears and Hux did not at all think it might be the worst of ideas to throttle the man. Why did Dameron even care? All of those things meant nothing and wouldn’t do him any good. Sentiment would not help him live another day.</p><p>             Hux balled his hands into fists, hurrying past the other doors to the small transport that would take him directly to his own quarters, ignoring the Lieutenants he passed on the way. Four days.</p><p>             He had spent four days waiting for Dameron to fully wake up. Four days overseeing the clean-up operation that would take years. He took a deep breath once the doors closed in front of him and he was finally alone. What a mess this was… why couldn’t Dameron just be dead like Ren and the scavenger and everyone else who had died. It would make things so much easier.</p><p>             Entering his quarters, he brushed a hand through his hair. How difficult would it be to make Dameron’s death look like an accident?</p><p>             Really hard, Hux concluded, as he entered his quarters and strode over to the desk sitting underneath the viewscreen. And maybe killing Dameron was not the way after all, despite what every fibre of his being was telling him. Dameron could be dangerous, yes, but couldn’t he be useful as well? What about intelligence about the Resistance? There had to be some of that. Surely not the entire Resistance intelligence network had been destroyed as well. Hux could make use of it. Get those people to fight for their side, for him, as well.</p><p>Hux sat down at the desk to get at least some work done before the sleep cycle started. Dameron was a prisoner of significance and a sudden medical emergency would only bring about questions Hux couldn’t afford right now. The other option was the harder one, but it would have to do. For now, though, Dameron needed time to come to grasp with what had happened.</p><p>             He put the datapad in its usual stand and started scrolling through the newest messages, ignoring the one that appeared just as he was opening the first one. It was only two hours old. A report on salvageable parts found on one of the Star Destroyers with a tentative assessment that there were only a handful of components that were still in working order. First the explosions had ripped most ships apart, then the ships had crashed and in the days following they had been repeatedly hit by lighting. It was no big surprise that next to nothing could be used again. The same report would surely come in over and over again for every single other ship stranded down below.</p><p>             Hux leaned back in his chair and opened the next massage. No bodies had been found in the fissures in the citadel’s cavern. Frowning, Hux tapped his chin. What then? Had Ren and the girl jumped on yet another ship and run off together? It made little sense, but it was definitely more fitting than the explanation that those two had literally vanished into thin air. The blood on the fabrics which had been found lying on the ground had been clearly identified as Ren’s and the scavenger’s. What then? Were they dead? It seemed to be the only logical conclusion left, though Hux barely dared believe it.</p><p>             With a frown, he closed the report and skipped the two personal messages he had received from Zeffo, to select the most recent one that was not private. A message from Pryde, demanding he report back to him as soon as possible on current developments.</p><p>             Hux pulled a face. <em>As soon as possible</em>. And if Hux interrupted him in an important meeting, he would have to pay the price. Hux hesitated for a moment, wondering how long he could pretend to be busy. It was no use. He passed his hand over his face, then he selected the option to call Pryde.</p><p>             And of course he was put on hold. It took several minutes during which all he could do was look at the First Order’s seal rotate in mid-air in front of him, the sharp white of it tinged blue. He was relieved to see that the Final Order’s symbol at least had vanished. It hadn’t been nearly as clean as the First Order’s, not as pristine. Not as meaningful. The very idea that all they had been working towards was to be taken over by people sentimental about some ancient religion was a disgrace. That Ren had allowed it to happen was nothing, if not a sign that he hadn’t given a single thought to the organization he had taken over after killing Snoke. That strike against the Supreme Leader had been the first step in the line of current events.</p><p>             Hux’s eyes narrowed as he put his hands to his lips. At least Ren hadn’t gotten the chance to get rid of him. Yes, he might be stranded in this system which was nothing but a junkyard, having been ordered to do the impossible, but he was not <em>done</em>. Despite what Pryde might think of him. He would live. And he would live to see the power restored to his hands. He needed it to. He couldn’t just give up and let it happen.</p><p>             The seal faded and Hux sat up straight again just before Pryde’s loathsome face appeared before him again. The shadows under the other man’s eyes almost made Hux smile. “Allegiant General,” Hux said, “The prisoner is awake and in his cell.”</p><p>             “I see,” Pryde raised his eyebrow at him, cold eyes fixed on Hux. “I expect a report on your progress every day, General Hux. We are encountering more resistance than we anticipated.”</p><p>             That was something Hux would definitely not be telling Dameron. He grabbed the armrests of his chair tight. Daily reports especially sent to Pryde would only mean additional work with no real purpose. “Very well,” he said, curtly. “On another note, we have now completed full scans of all ships. Two hundred more survivors have been found, out if which twenty are not expected to make a full recovery.”            </p><p>             “Noted. You know what to do with the bodies.”</p><p>             Hux balled his hands into fists. Pryde was talking to him as though he were nothing but a lowly Lieutenant. Gritting his teeth, he forced his hands to relax and lie on his armrests as though nothing at all was disturbing him. He knew why Pryde was doing this. “Allegiant General, I suggest we move two <em>Resurgent</em> class Star Destroyers into this system to take care of the clean-up. There is nothing new to be found here and the <em>Vengeance </em>is much better suited to assist in crushing insurrections across the new territories.”</p><p>             Pryde considered him for a moment, his narrow nostrils flaring. “You misunderstand your position, Hux,” he said quietly, no malice in his voice, and the neutrality made the words even harder to bear. Like a blunt axe, they hit him right in the chest. His father had never used that tone. Neither had Ren or Snoke. This was different. This was far more personal in the nonchalance of it all. “To make it very clear, once and for all, the failure of Starkiller Base, the destruction of twenty years of hard work, our base of operations, is due to you. It was under your command that it was destroyed. Any other officer would have been executed for that, but your skills in creating the tools necessary to allow us to follow the Rebel fleet, made you valuable enough in Snoke’s eyes to keep you alive. You have skills, but they will not be needed for a while, if at all. Until then, you should do as you are told and obey the orders you are given. Is that understood?” Pryde had not raised his voice, but his tone was the worse for it, sending chills down Hux’s back.</p><p>             His jaw clenched Hux looked up at him. What had the old man ever done? Ever since Hux had taken over his command of Starkiller, Pryde had been distant, sometimes openly hostile. But he’d been promoted, hadn’t he? Pryde had been the one to pull together their forces from the Unknown Regions instead. If anything, the reason why Starkiller had been destroyed was because Pryde had pulled a significant number of troops away to man this damn fleet which now lay destroyed beneath them.</p><p>             “General Hux!” Pryde repeated now. The old fool. As spineless as Brendol Hux had been. Incapable of accepting their own failure and blaming it on others instead. Just like Ren.</p><p>             “I-“ he began an bit his tongue, before he nodded. There was no use arguing here. Without support from others in High Command he had no chance of stepping up to the man. He swallowed his pride instead and nodded. “Yes, Sir.”</p><p>             “Report back to me at the same time tomorrow. I expect constant progress.”</p><p>             The communication was cut off and Hux let himself fall back into his chair, heart racing, his face burning with rage. He tapped his lips, thinking hard. Pryde had to be eliminated. There was no way around it, and unlike with Ren or with Snoke, that would actually be achievable, though Hux would have to act fast. He couldn’t wait for Pryde to take full control of High Command. He would have to achieve this openly, then. Getting rid of his father had been fairly easy in contrast. Brendol Hux had never been held in particularly high esteem by his peers. But Enric Pryde, unlike Brendol, was no drunk known for violent outbursts. Officers, especially those who had served under the Empire, respected him. And there still were a few of them around, determined to follow the old ways, loyal only to each other. In a way Ren’s presence had made things easier for him. If Ren hadn’t been such a child, if Ren hadn’t yearned for control so vehemently, if Ren had been more in control, things might have gone differently.</p><p>             Hux pushed the thought away. No. Ren had been volatile to say the least. He had killed too many of their own men in a fit of rage. A short stab in his chest made him close his eyes for a moment. Greedy, violent Ren. The man had lost every sense of reality far too soon and burned down everything in his path in pursuit of power and the scavenger girl. If he hadn’t vanished when he did, Hux too, would have lost far more than he’d ever dreaded. Ren had been on his tail. Another week or so and he would have found out.</p><p>             Well, that was none of his concern anymore. That was one bit of good news. The other was that he still hadn’t lost all of his power. He was still in command of a Star Destroyer, he still had a crew loyal to him, and his secrets were safe. For now he only had to make sure Dameron didn’t spill those he knew about.      </p><p>Constant progress… that would be hard to achieve. Dameron was stubborn, but Hux was determined to make him compliant. Mitaka’s idea to put him in living quarters instead of a cell was the first step. Hux had seen the despair in Dameron’s eyes. The fear that being treated like a guest rather than a prisoner meant the true downfall of the Resistance. Well, he wasn’t wrong. And what did they have to lose, really? He would just have to make sure that Dameron came to grasp with the new reality before he felt comfortable enough to mingle with the population aboard the <em>Steadfast.</em></p><p>Hux had to make sure the fight left Dameron, before Dameron could be pushed into the role he needed to fulfil. Dameron needed to understand and not feel like he was being forced into it and then he would have to fall in line. It was no easy task, certainly. And Hux would have to do all he could to work as quickly as possible.</p><p>He opened the top drawer of his desk. A single data cube, the two lightsabers lay neatly tucked away next to a silvery necklace with a silver ring attached to it. Was that what Dameron had been yelling for? Hux had known that it held sentimental value for the other man, so he thought it vital to keep it around, just in case. There was always some leverage that could come in useful. Pressing his lips into a thin line, he frowned at the four items, thinking hard. Dameron was a sentimental person. He could make use of that.</p><p>He selected a comm channel and closed the drawer again. “Lieutenant Kandia,” he said, once the woman’s thin face appeared in front of him, “hold the destruction of Dameron’s Beebee-unit for now.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So... Hux is starting to form a plan. I know, this is all very tropey, but I hope you still like this story.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>The hours stretched on endlessly. He got the sense that the sun must had set on Exegol and risen again, but he could barely make out the shift in lighting. Poe couldn’t remember ever having felt this empty and burnt out.</p><p>            For hours he had lain on this hard bed and looked down at the grey surface until he had finally drifted off into a deep sleep. He still wasn’t well. How could he be? His body would probably need another couple of days to fully recover. And it looked like it would get the time to do just that.</p><p>Nobody came to see him.</p><p>Nobody bothered him.</p><p>            This was almost worse than being stuck in that interrogation chair. At least then he’d had something to fight for. This thought, always the same one, creeping up at him from the darkness of his mind, made him feel sick. He was wrong! He had to be! Just because everything seemed like the Resistance was gone, didn’t mean that it actually was!</p><p>            The First Order was cruel and vicious, they murdered entire star systems and repressed whoever didn’t agree with their agenda. There must be people out there still fighting. There had to be. He couldn’t believe that every bit of fight had evaporated when the First Order destroyed first the Hosnian system and then three other worlds. People were angry! They must know that sitting back and letting evil take over would only result in more deaths.</p><p>            And yet… even though people were angry, they were also afraid. Terrified even.</p><p>            When Poe had finally given in and picked up the datapad, he had seen the First Order’s news channel. And, yes, he knew he couldn’t believe the propaganda, he couldn’t take everything that slick reporter said about crushed rebellions and the New Republic officially surrendering to the Final Order for granted.</p><p>            No.</p><p>            There hadn’t been a peaceful transfer of power. There couldn’t have been. Poe didn’t know many politicians, but those he did know weren’t necessarily bad people. They were career oriented beings, determined to keep their power, yes, but they also deeply valued democracy and the freedom which the absence of the Empire had brought them.</p><p>            And those other worlds, welcoming the Order with open arms… that couldn’t be true either. He doubted anything but force could have evoked the celebration he had seen. It was more than likely that not all <em>Xyston</em>-class Star Destroyers had been in the system when the fleet had been ripped to shreds. Several of them had still been roaming the galaxy. And just a few hits must have been enough to quieten the sparks of rebellion once the Resistance was gone.</p><p>            His heart hammering, Poe sat on the bed, trying to rip the seams holding the general insignia on his sleeve. It was something to do. Something destructive that didn’t involve slamming the datapad against the view port.</p><p>            More hours passed and he had only managed to evoke a hollow moan from the fabric as the first few stitch broke, when the door opened and Hux was standing inside his door again, slightly widened eyes trained on him. Clearly Hux hadn’t expected him to be only half dressed.</p><p>            For a moment Poe wondered if he should let the other man stew, if only to cause some discomfort. Clearly Hux wasn’t used to seeing his precious uniform being mishandled like this.</p><p>            “There are more uniforms in the closet, you know?” he said with a raised eyebrow.</p><p>            Poe let out a scoff and pulled the jacket over his shoulders again. His fingers were still a bit clumsy with the buttons and hooks, but he managed to put it on quickly enough.</p><p>            “You are not hungry?” Hux added, eyes on the desk again.</p><p>Once again, Poe didn’t answer. He wouldn’t touch the food they brought him. The cubes in grey and slimy green sitting on the bland plastoid plate which one of the Stormtroopers had brought him wasn’t even close to tempting.</p><p>            He wasn’t hungry. Not even after a seemingly endless stretch of time, during which he’d done little to nothing.</p><p>            Hux frowned at him then, hands clasped behind his back. “What?”</p><p>            “Oh, you’re expecting me to be grateful for your generosity?” Poe’s voice was dripping with venom, but Hux didn’t flinch back. His frown didn’t even deepen. He just took the snarky comment as though he was used to them. He probably was. Ren was a jerk. Even more so than Hux.</p><p>            “Not at all, I was expecting more of that fly-boy charm.” There was not even the slightest trace of a smile on Hux’s lips. Poe doubted that face could even do that. Some people simply weren’t meant to smile apparently.</p><p>            “So… you’re rebranding yourself. Final Order. Very poetic.”</p><p>            Hux merely raised an eyebrow at him. “Come with me,” he said, stepping to the side.</p><p>            “Why? Time for my execution?”</p><p>            “Do you want to stay in here for the rest of your miserable life, Dameron?”</p><p>            The cocky retort sitting on his tongue was burning like acid. He only wished… what? For things to be over? To travel back in time and find the exact moment where everything had gone wrong so he could avoid making that one crucial mistake?</p><p>            Keeping his eyes on Hux, he got off the bed. The socks started to slip again. Why was there no elastic band in them? Poe bit his tongue. Compression stockings weren’t supposed to be this loose. But he’d be damned if he started off with that. Those clothes, horrific as they may be, were by far the least of his worries. “Fine, off we go then, Hugs.”</p><p>            A muscle in Hux’s cheek twitched and for the briefest of seconds, Hux’s nostrils flared, making Poe’s chest feel warm for just a moment. To get just this tiny bit of reaction was more than he could have dreamed of.</p><p>            “You could have shaved,” Hux said instead, green eyed grazing over Poe’s cheek. “Remember to do that tomorrow.”</p><p>            Poe snorted, following Hux outside. The Stormtroopers were still in the exact same position they had been in the previous day, though they were probably a different set by now. They remained unmoving, until Hux started walking down the corridor, back towards the turbolifts. Poe was sure, he’d never get used to those gleaming corridors without running through them, a blaster securely in his hand. He eyed one of the soldiers on his left. What could he do? Take Hux hostage to buy himself some time and get to a ship?</p><p>            Yes.</p><p>            A brilliant plan that could get him killed a thousand times over. And then what? He might get to a shuttle, with luck he might even take off and navigate through the debris lining the solar system, but what should he do then? Every single fighter of the Resistance had been here on Exegol. Some networks might still be in place, but he would have to start from scratch. Without influence. Without allies who were willing to fight.</p><p>            “I saw you accessed your datapad.” Hux said when they exited another corridor a few minutes later.</p><p>            More shiny surfaces were the first thing he noticed when they exited the small transport. And then his eyes fell on the viewport. Several windows framed by soft triangles, the rounded corners of which stood in stark contrast to the clean-cut lines of the consoles underneath. “What, you’re trying to impress me with your big-ass ship?” Poe was loathe to admit that it was kind of working.</p><p>            Hux gave a snort of derision, then proceeded down the long corridor, past three intersections before they reached the opened blast door which could seal off the bridge if necessary. A bridge, larger and more imposing than Poe had ever seen in his life. The nerve centre of the entire ship, and they were completely alone, making the vastness of the room seem even bigger than it already was.</p><p>            “You even cleared the bridge for me, I’m flattered.”</p><p>            “Shut up, Dameron.” The words didn’t sound nearly as harsh as they could have done. There was a tired undertone in his voice, which took Poe by surprise. He waved a hand and the Stormtroopers positioned themselves at the blast door, so Poe and Hux could move along the bridge unsupervised.</p><p>            “What is this, then?” Poe asked as they slowly made their way along the walkway and past abandoned stations. Poe could make out the communications panel clearly enough, but there was also navigation, a console for engineers to oversee the overall status of the ship itself with the main weapons console right next to it.</p><p>            “You are onboard the <em>Vengeance</em>, one of the First Order’s <em>Resurgent</em>-class Star Destroyers. It regularly holds a crew of eighty-two thousand but can support one hundred thousand if necessary. It is larger than the <em>Xyston</em>-class Destroyers and more manoeuvrable, even though it is not equipped with an axial superlaser and-“</p><p>            “Yeah, nice lecture. I know the specs,” Poe interrupted him. He hadn’t missed the fact that Hux had spoken of the <em>First</em> Order this time around. Was it a lapse, or had he done it on purpose? Poe couldn’t be sure. “Like I said, what is this?” They had reached the end of the walkway and Poe could see the full expanse of the Star Destroyer stretching out before them now. From every other bridge he’d ever been on, the bridge was usually at the bow. Even the New Republic’s ships had stuck to that design, although recycling old Star Destroyers would certainly have been the cheaper way to go.</p><p>            Hux, hands still clasped behind his back, looked out on the ship before them, his jaw tight. “How many people did the Resistance loose?” he asked. “Down there?”</p><p>            The question made Poe’s stomach tighten, though there was no malice in Hux’s voice. He didn’t have to think. “Three thousand.” He’d done the numbers several times in his head. He knew exactly how many ships they’d thrown at the Order, most them they had stolen over the course of the past six months, or had been brought in by New Republic deserters determined to push the Order back into the Unknown Regions for good. And there was no way lying to Hux would do any good. Hux must know about their losses.</p><p>            “In sheer numbers of losses not sustained, you win,” Hux said, his lips stretching into a painful smile. “There were one hundred and two <em>Xyston-</em>class Destroyers ready to launch when your pitiful little fleet emerged from hyperspace.” He paused, letting Poe do the calculations and giving him time. “You did it… you destroyed the Sith Eternal fleet for the most part. Good job.”</p><p>            And yet, they had still lost. The bitter taste on his tongue wouldn’t go away, and Hux’s smug sarcasm made him want to punch something. All those lives… gone… and for what? The Order still had enough ships to take over the galaxy, while the Resistance was even worse off than it had been after Crait. If what Hux was saying was true, then he truly was the last fighter left.</p><p>            “If you didn’t think we could win, why’d you do it then?”</p><p>            Hux grimaced at the console to his left and tapped on the screen. Could they be overheard here? Probably not, or he would have pulled his blaster and killed him there and then. “Didn’t FN-“</p><p>            “Finn!” Poe interrupted him, anger flaring up in him again. “His name’s Finn.”</p><p>            With a nod, Hux pulled up a hologram. It was as though acknowledging the name was nothing to him. As though it was perfectly normal.</p><p>Was it?</p><p>Somehow the way Hux accepted the change of a dehumanized number to a name had come too easy… or maybe it wasn’t that unusual.</p><p>            <em>Phasma once told me, I could become an officer some day. Maybe I would’ve been… who knows.</em> Finn had told him so. An ordinary Stormtrooper <em>could</em> advance, make a name for himself. Literally. Because it seemed as though all officers had a regular name… Not that Finn had even once regretted having deserted. Not once. But he’d understood the Order. He’d understood it better than Poe ever could.</p><p> He looked down at the hologram now floating between them, Hux’s pale face tinged blue. The Sith Eternal Fleet, swimming in light blue clouds. A static picture. “Fine…Finn,” Hux corrected himself, “What did he tell you?” He looked up at Poe with carefully veiled curiosity.</p><p>            “Nothing.” Poe said. “I know you talked, but… we didn’t exactly have much time.”</p><p>            “No.” Hux pressed his lips together before he looked at the chrono on his left wrist. It was hidden underneath that damned glove of his. Why was he even wearing gloves? It wasn’t that cold up here. “We don’t have much time. I ordered the crew to vacate the bridge for thirty  minutes.”</p><p>            “Why?”</p><p>            “Because I wanted you to see it,” Hux looked up at him. “You are interested in space ships, are you not?”</p><p>            So this really was an attempt at impressing him? At sucking up? Poe almost laughed. “Not particularly,” Poe said with a frown at the hologram. “Not in big-ass Star Destroyers that were only built for intimidation. I like small fighters.”</p><p>            Hux nodded again, almost thoughtfully. “Yes, I remember. You were the insane hotshot who blew up Starkiller Base and then proceeded to attack the Dreadnought. I remember it very well.”</p><p>            “Right.” Poe frowned at the hologram again. “So, sucking up to me didn’t work. What’s this now? Another show of strength? You’re gonna show me how it all went to hell?”</p><p>            “It was a trying day for the Final Order as well as for you. Who can say who would have prevailed had things only gone a bit differently.”</p><p>            “I’m sure you played out various scenarios in your head before you started sending us intel.”</p><p>            Hux’s face darkened and didn’t reply at first. Instead he pushed a button and the ships started moving. “This is what happened,” he said and Poe watched it all play itself out again. How the Resistance fleet had dropped out of hyperspace, only to come under fire straight away. His chest tightened as he watched the battle unfold. There was no sound, no change of perspective and his heart missed a beat with every small fighter that appeared in the blurred image. The footage had been taken from above, probably from the <em>Vengeance</em> high above the battle. He spotted a few X-Wings dart in and out of the salvos of fire, watched as one TIE after the other was shot out of the sky and then something else happened. One Star Destroyer after the other started going up, snapping in half like they were nothing but twigs and the Resistance fleet was caught right in the middle. He watched on as the <em>Tantive IV</em> was left with no way to escape as two Destroyers took her down along with them, explosions raining down on her and every other vessel they came across. Poe himself must have gone down some time before that. He didn’t remember it. All he remembered was the terrible heat and then pain before he blacked out. But now he could see. How the falling and burning Destroyers were hit by lightning as they crashed into the enormous citadel. How the debris flew everywhere and, when all that was left were only a few straggling fighters, the odd A-Wing or X-Wing, remained, only to be taken down by the remaining Star Destroyers and TIEs.</p><p>            His eyes were burning when the holo finally ended and for once he didn’t have the courage to look up to face Hux. He pressed his lips together and took a deep breath instead before he turned to look out the viewport again.</p><p>            “At least Ren’s dead,” Hux said quietly behind him and Poe closed his eyes for a moment to steal some more time. To collect himself before he had to face Hux again. In a way he was grateful. The footage showed nothing of the glossiness that was so typical of First Order propaganda. This looked real. More than real, to be fair. And in its realness, it was all the more soul crushing.</p><p>            “Palpatine?”</p><p>            “No trace of him either.” Hux cleared his throat and it was a long while before he spoke again. “Let us get off the bridge.” It was almost a request. But not quite. Poe was not entirely sure, but he followed Hux willingly off the bridge and into the turbolift.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So... they still hate each other... but at least they talked without throwing punches. For now.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Let the strategizing begin.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>It was only a short ride, but it was long enough to make him feel how closely Dameron was standing to him in the cramped space of the turbolift. Dameron seemed strangely unrattled by what he had just seen in the holo. Or maybe he was merely putting on a good show. After all, interrogations had failed to procure the desired information off of him on the <em>Finalizer</em> too, leaving Dameron a mess if nothing else after Ren had taken over interrogations.</p><p>The doors opened again, revealing the office above the bridge. It was smaller than Pryde's aboard the <em>Steadfast</em> was, but Hux didn’t mind. Clearly the man had asked for a special modification, robbing other senior officers of the space needed to conduct business from. It was nothing, if not another clear show of Pryde’s ego, just like that fake title he was holding still.</p><p>“Now what?” Dameron asked behind him. “This your quarters?”</p><p>“Don’t be ridiculous,” Hux said with a quick look at his chrono. The main bridge was in all likelihood already fully occupied again. Not that there was a lot of manoeuvring to be done. All the officers did was maintain the ship in a steady orbit, supervise communications and remain at the ready in case they were attacked or called into action. Not that that would happen anytime soon.</p><p>“You have quarters on my floor? Are they as big as this?”</p><p>Hux didn’t answer. Dameron was nervous, and rightly so. Let him stew for a bit. Instead of commenting on that ridiculous question, he strode over to the desk situated in front of the window and wiped his sleeve over the main console to start up the main computer. He still had a few hours left before he needed to report back to Pryde. There didn’t even appear to be any urgent messages for him. He really was utterly forgotten by anyone not on this ship. “Are you hungry?”</p><p>“You know, I don’t appreciate this kind of torture. I’d rather be in that chair again.”</p><p>Frowning Hux turned to him. He was tired of this. Tired of the cocky remarks and the attempted jokes. “That can be arranged,” Hux said coolly. “Only that it wouldn’t do any good. There is no more intel we could possibly want from you.” It was not a complete lie, but he had to admit, it was satisfying to watch the colour drain from Dameron’s face. Let him stew. Hux thought again. Let him stew and think we got all of his contacts and every single hidden Resistance base out there.</p><p>Hux doubted they would stomp out rebellion for ever. Wasn’t he himself a product of the resilience a system of beliefs could bring forward?</p><p>“I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve here, Hux,” Dameron said now, taking a step towards him, the look of defeat wiped away as though it was second nature to fight back. To keep up appearances. That was something Hux could appreciate. And it might help. “I’m not gonna be a tool for your propaganda.”</p><p>“It’s not about that,” Hux said, looking at the door. The Stormtroopers were still standing at attention and for a brief moment Hux thought about sending them away for one single moment. It would certainly help in Dameron trusting him. But on the other hand, Dameron was rash. He was stubborn and desperate. Who could say what things he might resort to up here in Hux’s office, so close to the bridge.</p><p>“What then?” Dameron moved closer, folding his arms over his chest as he looked closely at Hux. “You said something about resistance in certain systems… the footage on your holo news tells a different story.” Hux was almost tempted to return the sarcastic smirk, but he didn’t. “All those loving receptions…”</p><p>“Of course it does,” Hux said evasively, pushing himself away from the desk and moving over to the seating area on one side of the office. On the opposite side of the room was another seating area with two chairs and a sofa, identical to the one where he was headed to now. They were rarely used, although he had seen his father passed out on a sofa just like this one on several occasions.</p><p>“Sit.”</p><p>“Is that an order, or a request?”</p><p>Hux frowned at him. Dameron hadn’t moved. He still stood by the desk, arms folded, shoulders tense, his jaw set. Had it not been for the stubble on his cheeks and chin, he might easily have been one of the old Imperial officers. In their determination they had started shaping the Order, and, hadn’t they allowed themselves to be enticed by Snoke and Ren, who could tell where the Order might be today. Like his father, they had all failed. Even Pryde in his pursuit of a force nobody but the delusional Emperor could handle.</p><p>Poe Dameron was like that. Like the Imperials had been after the battle of Jakku, especially Sloane. Hux could see it in the determination in Dameron’s eyes. Dameron wasn’t delusional. But he was far from giving up. Ultimately Hux would have to convince him that falling in line would be for the best option, not necessarily for him, but for the greater good. He would have to make Dameron see what he saw when he looked at the Order. The First Order, not the shameful offspring that was the Final Order.</p><p>Hux gritted his teeth. Working together with Dameron would be far from easy, but this might be the very opportunity he needed to get out of this hellish place and back on the playing field. “Do you play dejarik?”</p><p>Dameron considered him for a moment. Was Hux demanding too much of him? It had only been a day since he had woken up, mere minutes since he had witnessed the final destruction of his comrades. But Hux had no patience with grief. There was no place or time for it in his life. “Poorly,” Dameron said finally, his dark eyes trailing over to Hux. “Don’t you have another poor jerk who could play with you?”</p><p>“I’m a bit rusty myself,” Hux said, although that wasn’t entirely true. What was true was that he hadn’t played in the last few days, and for the past few months he’d been playing against a computer and those games were dull. “You attended the New Republic Military Academy, didn’t you? I am sure you have a strategic mind.”</p><p>With a scoff, Dameron approached the seating area. He still looked cautious. “Apparently not as good as I thought I was.” In truth the Resistance probably hadn’t had the time to figure out a good strategy. How much time did they have after Hux’s message about Palpatine reached them? One day perhaps? It couldn’t have been more than that.</p><p>With a grim expression Dameron sat down on the leather sofa, hands folded between his knees as he watched Hux tap a button on the glass coffee table and the circular dejarik board lit up in the centre of it along with the usual game pieces. Hux sat opposite Dameron and tapped his lips. Dameron must be tired and fed up with him, but he was still at least trying to humour him. Probably to get some more information out of him. Well, that he would get. Some information Hux could spare easily.</p><p>He motioned for Dameron to start playing, but Dameron didn’t even look at the board. “What do you even think I could do? I’m not gonna tell those fighting the Order to surrender. I don’t like regimes that take children away from their parents and raise them to be soldiers. Or people who blow up entire star systems to fuel their ego.”</p><p>There it was. Hux had been waiting for this remark. He didn’t feel like justifying himself to Dameron. There was nothing to be done about the lives lost in the Hosnian system. “What makes you think we have to take the children away?” he retorted calmly, leaning back in his chair.</p><p>“Oh, don’t even start with that propaganda of yours.”</p><p>“Every parent who gives their child to the Order are recompensed generously. Unlike the New Republic, which would let them starve readily enough if it meant supporting the interest of a few wealthy businesses. The Order cares for its citizens.”</p><p>“Really.” Poe scoffed and leaned in closer, eyes fixed on him. Hux returned the glare, his face as impassive as he could make it. He’d hit a nerve with Dameron, albeit a small one. His eyelid had twitched just for the briefest of seconds. Poe Dameron hated corruption. That was a start. And then Dameron said something else. “They care about you, then? Your perfect First Order?”</p><p>Hux didn’t speak. He merely looked into Dameron’s eyes. In this light they were almost black. His heart was starting to beat faster, but he didn’t move a muscle. He knew how to sit still when under scrutiny. How to let nothing of his feelings show.</p><p>“They take care of you, and your mom, and your dad?” Not a single muscle moved in Dameron’s face as he held Hux’s gaze and  Hux felt his neck grow hot. What a childish taunt, and yet it was spoken with so much malice that Hux felt it reverberate through his entire being.</p><p>Dameron looked down at the board and pressed one of the panels on his side. The skeletal Grimtaash moved one panel towards the center of the board, arms flailing.</p><p>“No,” Hux replied once he was sure his voice was as neutral as it could possibly be. He moved his Monnok into position, ready to take on whichever piece Dameron would throw at him next. “I did.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So... Hux "took care" of his mother and father? So many questions *coughs* not...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This one's a bit shorter than I hoped it would be and I'm a bit late. Sorry!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p>Poe held Hux’s gaze for a full minute, allowing whatever emotion had driven Hux to say this to evaporate. His own anger had imploded almost immediately and he couldn’t say why. If there was one thing this single statement had taught him, it was that Hux was a complicated person.</p><p>             On the coffee table the game pieces were still moving about, their contours much more refined than they had been aboard the <em>Falcon</em>. That dejarik set was about as ancient as the ship it came in. This here was brand new. The holograms barely even flickered. But Poe didn’t look down at them.</p><p>             “Why?” he asked finally. He really was curious. Not because he thought the man who had ordered the Hosnian Prime system to be blown up would show any remorse, but because Hux had given this statement so proudly.</p><p>             In his mind, Poe tried recalling everything he’d ever read on Armitage Hux, although there wasn’t much. All he had found in the archives was that he was the illegitimate son of Commandant Brendol Hux who had led the Imperial Military Academy on Arkanis. His birth mother had become a citizen to the New Republic when the planet was taken over and Hux and his son had fled into the Unknown Regions with the rest of the military elite unwilling to surrender after the battle of Jakku.</p><p>             Hux had his chin propped up on his fist as he studied the board in front of him. “Does it matter?”</p><p>             Poe moved his piece. “I’m stuck on this ship, apparently you’re the only company I’m allowed to have, so humour me.” The words stung even as he spoke them. He was no good at being alone and when Hux met his eyes again he knew that Hux had figured that out too.</p><p>             Hux mouth turned into a snarl and he quickly pushed his gloved finger against it, staring down at the dejarik board instead, eyes darting between the game pieces. “It was either him or me,” Hux said, ordering one of his pieces to move forward.</p><p>             Poe shifted his Ghhk, which immediately ripped off the head one of Hux’s Houjix, trampling on the fallen body with its arms raised in triumph. Chewie would have been excited by this move, Poe thought, feeling a stab of pain in his chest.</p><p>Chewie and Lando had taken the <em>Falcon</em> to get more help. And they had failed. The <em>Falcon</em> hadn’t turned up. Neither had anybody else. No, Chewie was bound to be okay. The <em>Falcon</em> didn’t even make it here to Exegol, but there could be a billion reasons for that. Maybe it  had broken down halfway. What a silly idea… the <em>Falcon</em> was better than this. So were Chewie and Lando Calrissian.</p><p>Swallowing hard, he looked up at Hux.</p><p>             <em>Him or me. </em>What did that even mean? “Very specific.”</p><p>             Hux nodded and shifted the Monnok from one side of the board to Poe’s Ghhk.  Poe hadn’t even paid attention to that one. His stomach clenched as he watched Hux’s piece devour his.</p><p>             “He was dangerous to the Order, and he resented me for making General, essentially making me his equal.” He tapped his lips again. “It was not a hard decision.”</p><p>             Poe suppressed a shudder. To have to think like that of your own father… Kes had never, not once made him feel inferior or resented… but Poe knew he was lucky that way. Not everyone had a loving family.</p><p>             He didn’t even want to know what had happened to Hux’s mother now.</p><p>             “Your turn.”</p><p>             Poe frowned at the board and bit his lip. “Yeah…” he had this weird feeling that Hux already had him right where he wanted. “It’s really not as sexy as you think, you know? Trying to be mysterious.”</p><p>             Hux let out a long breath and crossed his legs as he looked back at him, his eyes staring unblinkingly at him. “I’m not trying to be mysterious,” Hux retorted. “I just don’t believe you have a right to all my personal information.”</p><p>             “So, if my sleeve insignia were programmed just right, I couldn’t just open up your file and find it out on my own?”</p><p>             Hux frowned at him, then he folded his hands in his lap. “How do you mean?”</p><p>             “You clearly have an authorisation chip in your sleeve. You used it to open my cell, to operate the turbolift to take us to your office, you accessed your computer with it.”</p><p>             “Ah.” A flicker of a smile stretched across Hux’s lips then. “No, the sleeve has nothing to do with it,” he said, holding up his left arm. The sleeve slipped down half an inch to reveal a bit of Hux’s pale wrist. It was almost delicate, Poe thought for a second, before he remembered the knife Hux had hidden in that sleeve as well. “It is an authorisation chip that makes it possible for me to access all these things.”</p><p>             Poe nearly choked on his own spit. “You’re… chipped?”</p><p>             The frown deepened and Hux slowly let his hand sink back into his lap. “You could put it like that. All senior personnel from the rank of Colonel upward have a chip like this implanted. Much more convenient and secure than code cylinders.”</p><p>             “You can be tracked with these as well?”</p><p>             Hux nodded once, then turned his attention back to the board, scowling. Well, that was answer enough.</p><p>             Poe looked to the side, to the Stormtroopers still standing at attention. Finn wouldn’t have had an implant like that. If he had, it would have been even easier for the Order to track him on Jakku. It would have made escaping the <em>Finalizer</em> downright impossible too. Swallowing hard, he looked back at Hux. He couldn’t ask the question he was itching to ask now. Not with an audience so close at hand. Was that why he hadn’t joined them? Why he didn’t come along?</p><p>             Somehow Poe doubted Finn would have been too thrilled to have Hux onboard the <em>Falcon</em>, but maybe, having Hux there as well, would have saved them. It might have saved them all. Hux must know all there was to know about the Order’s strategies. About their plans and weaknesses. If Hux had been there, with all his knowledge, willing to help, would they have even come here to Exegol to meet their doom?</p><p>             Poe moved the next game piece and Hux followed with another move briefly afterwards. Five minutes later, Poe was done for. He stared at the board and scratched his chin. This was nothing. Just another defeat to add to the pile he was accumulating. Only this one hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things. “Is that all you do?”</p><p>             “What do you mean?” Hux was still looking at the board, where five of his pieces still remained whereas Poe’s had all vanished.</p><p>             “Play dejarik or work out evil schemes?”</p><p>             Hux snorted. “Do you really think I have a lot of free time on my hands?” He slowly raised his head, his green eyes full of resentment.</p><p>             <em>Well, you’re wasting time on me.</em> Poe leaned back as well, folding his arms over his chest as he considered Hux. “I think you have an awful lot of time on your hands, yeah,” he said. “You clearly don’t have much to do here. There’s no training facilities down there, no shipyard from what I can tell… all you are doing here is clean up this mess, isn’t it? You’ve been given no other orders.”</p><p>             Hux’s silence was enough.</p><p>             “So, you’re overseeing the clean-up and trying to butter me up. Fine. I can see that. But I don’t like playing games, Hux. I really don’t. Not when something real is at stake.” He pointed at the table, but he held Hux’s gaze. “This can be fun, but not when you’re trying to distract me. Do us both a favour and cut the crap.”</p><p>             “Fine,” Hux hissed, leaning forward, his nostrils flaring. “My job is to get you in line. You need to face the facts and be prepared to do what is best for the galaxy.”</p><p>             “Your wonderful Order isn’t-“</p><p>             “It’s the best chance it has.” Hux cut him off. For a fraction of a second is looked as though he was about to get up, but instead he remained seated and folded his hands, his posture more relaxed than Poe had seen him until now. “It’s the best chance you have. The Republic has fallen, the Resistance is dead. You saw it all for yourself.”</p><p>             Poe pressed his lips into a thin line. It didn’t feel like the worst idea to punch Hux in the face there and then. His heart was racing, urging him on, but all he did was ball his hands into fists. The truth in Hux’s words rang true, but he was still wrong. This fight wasn’t over. Even if he was the last spark of the Resistance, then he couldn’t just allow himself to give up. He had to fight even harder to stay alive. To keep the spirit of freedom and rebellion alive. When the Empire had taken over, not everyone had been willing to resign to their fate. He doubted things had changed. And he knew neither Hux believed that either. That was why they needed Poe after all, or pretended to need him.</p><p>             Hux sighed and checked his chrono. “I’m going to the mess. Care to join me, or would you rather get back to your cell?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So... we're done playing (dejarik) for now. I have NO idea how dejarik works and I'm super bad at chess, so please forgive me for not jumping into an elaborate description of the game. :-P All the info I used was taken from Wookiepedia, my favourite Star Wars databank.</p><p>Any thoughts on what's happening next? Is Poe even up to having dinner with this jerk yet?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p> </p><p>Dameron was escorted back into his office the next day and the day after that. They didn’t talk much. Or rather: Dameron stopped asking questions or making witty remarks. Clearly he was bored. Clearly playing dejarik with Hux, losing time and time again, was a welcome respite from sitting in his cell, following the Holo News or watching the clouds take different shapes again and again.</p><p>             On the fifth day, Dameron had shaved, but he’d also finally managed to rip the general’s insignia off his uniform. Hux eyed it sceptically as Dameron sat opposite him, moving one of his most essential pieces into position for Hux to take.</p><p>             “What?” Dameron asked hoarsely. They’d been at it for an hour now. The games took longer every time, Dameron learning slowly but surely to think a few steps ahead. But he wasn’t quite there yet. He was nowhere close to winning.</p><p>             Hux frowned at the frayed seam. “You are aware that it will be sewed back on in laundry?”</p><p>             “Yeah, well, I found a way to get it off once, I can do it again.” Dameron reached for the glass of water Hux had ordered be brought here after their third day of silence.</p><p>             Nodding, Hux claimed Dameron’s Ng’ok, his mind calculating that this game would take five more minutes at the most. That was too long. Pryde was awaiting his report in seven.</p><p>             Report… what report? There was nothing to say. The sweeps of the surface were completely done and, if they were indeed supposed to clean this all up, then they would need more transports and engineers to take the salvageable parts to their shipyards. The ones here on Exegol were unusable.</p><p>             He doubted the team of engineers still looking at the fissures in the surface would bring about any news either. At least Mitaka hadn’t reported anything of that sort up until now. This barren rock was worthless.</p><p>             And then Dameron leaned forward, grinning broadly, almost triumphantly. Hux’s eyes darted over the board and his stomach clenched when he realized his fatal error. One single move from Dameron was enough to ensure Hux’s defeat.</p><p>             He did all he could to remain impassive, to not move a muscle as he watched his pieces vanish into thin air. He couldn’t believe it. Dameron had actually beaten him. Why? How had Hux made this mistake? Gritting his teeth, he looked up into Dameron’s smiling face, at the gleaming dark eyes. “Well done,” he said coolly, his mind racing as he retraced his steps.</p><p>             Dameron hadn’t said anything. Not a word. So how had he done it? How had he distracted him? With a clever feint? Cheating was out of the question. Dameron had no way of slicing the game. So, what had happened here?</p><p>             Hux’s eyes slid to the cuff. To the few stray threads sticking out almost vertically. “How?” Had Dameron distracted him with those? Had it unsettled him enough to make this one crucial mistake? Just like making fun of him had been Dameron’s tactic one year ago? A diversion so he could make a move that would destroy every single canon the First Order’s dreadnaught was carrying?</p><p>             Dameron shrugged. “Want a rematch?”</p><p>             Yes, as a matter of fact, he did. But he didn’t have the time. He tapped his chin, then he got up. “Give me a minute,” he said, getting out of his chair to walk over to his desk. Swiping his wrist over the sensor, he pulled up the latest message he had already prepared for Pryde. Dameron couldn’t read it from where he was sitting.</p><p>             <em>No new developments.</em></p><p>             That was the key message. Three words that made his insides clench. They were exactly the words he knew Pryde wanted to read from him. Just a confirmation of Hux’s failure. He knew his time was running out. Give it another week, and he would be considered a failure himself and stationed here for all eternity.</p><p>             But there was nothing to report. No indication on Dameron’s part that made it clear that he was close to cooperating. At least Dameron hadn’t said anything he shouldn’t have in front of the Stormtroopers. The first few days,<em> that</em> had been Hux’s primary concern.</p><p>             Another message icon appeared in the left-hand corner of his hologram. Another message from Zeffo that made his heart miss a beat. He would have to answer them soon.</p><p>             He quickly sent the short note to Pryde, swiped his wrist over the sensor and the hologram disappeared.</p><p>             “Urgent business you need to attend to?” Dameron was lounging in his seat by now, arms stretched out, eyes moving over to the Stormtroopers still standing guard by the door.</p><p>             A snappy remark was hanging on Hux’s lips, but he bit it back just in time. In a way Dameron was better had getting reactions out of him than Ren had ever been. It was irritating how in control Dameron seemed at all times.</p><p>             He considered Dameron for a moment. The dark eyes weren’t even trained on him, but on the view port behind Hux. At he swirling void of debris orbiting the planet and making it downright impossible to leave this place easily.</p><p> He was a pilot, Hux reminded himself. A pilot made general. Made leader. Did he miss flying as much as the friends he had lost? Who could say? And what would it help if Hux knew? There was no way he could let Dameron into a star fighter ever again. There was no way he could bring the friends Dameron had lost back. There was no leverage he could use, maybe except for the few things of Dameron’s which had been confiscated. The droid and the ring. But what use could those be? They were only things, and couldn’t be used to make him cooperate.</p><p>             Dameron’s eyes flickered to his. “So, I guess since we won’t be playing anymore, I’m just going to kindly ask these nice Stormtroopers to escort me back to my cell?” He wasn’t moving. Instead, he held Hux’s gaze now. Steadily. As though determined to worm secrets out of <em>him.</em></p><p>             Leverage. That was what he needed here. And he wouldn’t get it from Dameron from playing a silent game like dejarik. If he wanted Dameron to give him what he needed, he would need to make Dameron trust him, at least to a certain degree. He needed Dameron to let something slip. And for that Dameron needed to feel secure. He needed to feel truly confident. Maybe even reckless. But how best to achieve that without giving too much away?</p><p>             “No,” Hux said. “Let’s play another round.”</p><p>             A smile flickered over Dameron’s face, though his eyes remained cool. He passed a hand over his face as Hux got up from his seat, an expectant smile on his lips now. What in the name of all the stars was going through his head? Hux wondered as he strode over to Dameron, refusing to drop his own gaze.</p><p>Dameron refused wearing the gloves that came along with the uniform from day one. It looked just as out of place as the stray threads sticking out of his cuff and the unruly black curls. “Ready to loose again?”</p><p>             With a scoff, Hux reset the board. Better not remind Dameron that he might have won this last game, but had lost everything else.</p><p>             The game pieces appeared in their usual places and Hux was about to set the pieces in motion again, when the chime at the door announced the imminent arrival of a visitor via turbolift.</p><p>             Frowning, Hux watched Mitaka walk in take up position after a quick salute, hands clasped firmly behind his back. He seemed a little out of breath and there was a slight flush on his cheeks. “General Hux, Sir.”</p><p>             “At ease, Lieutenant,” Hux said. Nobody aboard this ship had bothered to walk in here unannounced yet, which was no big surprise given that their posting here was little more than a farce.</p><p>             Mitaka threw a quick look at Dameron, before facing Hux. Yes, it might not be ideal that Dameron was here.</p><p>             “What is it?”</p><p>             Mitaka stood more upright then, brown eyes fixed on Hux. The tops of his shoes were dusty. Clearly he hadn’t had time to clean them properly after coming back up to the ship. “Sir, the engineering team team has come across a vast network of crystal caves beneath the citadel.” He licked his lips and took a deep breath. “Kyber by the looks of it.”</p><p>             Kyber. His mouth was parched all of a sudden. A network of crystal caves… well, the kyber for the axial superlasers must have come from somewhere… He felt Dameron’s eyes trained on him and he slowly came to his feet. “How vast?” What a find! Especially considering that first the Empire, then the First Order had done everything in their power to get as much of that crystal under their control as possible. First for the construction of the Death Stars, then for Starkiller Base.</p><p>             Mitaka hesitated for the briefest of moments before he said: “They are not certain yet, but they are expecting to find a network of mines, Sir. However they will have to send exploration droids into the caves to confirm. The entrance to the mines has collapsed along with the shipyard.” He took a deep breath. “General, I wasn’t sure whether to report in person or to send it via comm.”</p><p>             Shaking his head, Hux looked at Dameron, his mind racing. Dameron looked interested to say the least. Of course he did. He must know about the significance of kyber in weaponry. There simply was no better way to focus large amounts of energy. “No, this was no mistake,” he finally said, looking at Mitaka again, carefully picking his words. News of this couldn’t reach Pryde. Not for a while. Not until he knew what to do with this piece of information. And a message sent via comm might be intercepted. Beneath the leather of his gloves, he felt his hands go sweaty. “Where is the excavation team now?”</p><p>             “Three clicks west of the citadel, Sir.”</p><p>             “Very well. Thank you, Lieutenant. Get a shuttle ready, I will inspect the caves immediately.”</p><p>             Mitaka nodded curtly, seemingly relieved. He threw another glance at Dameron, before turning around on his heel to head back to the turbolift. Hux stood there, looking after him, ignoring the Stormtroopers standing at attention next to the sliding doors.</p><p>             Kyber crystals… a whole network of them.</p><p>             Of course there must have been a source to provide the Sith Fleet with axial superlasers… no crystals had been taken off Ilum during his time. Not that he knew of. Swallowing hard, he still refused to look at Dameron even now.</p><p>             <em>Make him trust you.</em></p><p>             He took another deep breath and pursed his lips before turning to Dameron. “Up for a short trip to the surface?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Some innuendo? Who knows... *coughs* More to come</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Again: sorry this took so long, but this one is a bit longer than the last one ;)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p>“So…” Poe said, slowly getting to his feet without taking his eyes off Hux for even a moment. “You just let people come in here?”</p><p>             “I beg your pardon?” Hux really did seem taken aback by the question. His fingers were twitching, and he quickly clasped them behind his back as though afraid Poe might notice his lapse. He narrowed his eyes for a moment.</p><p>             “I said: you just let people come in here?”</p><p>             “I heard you the first time.”</p><p>             Poe pursed his lips and approached Hux. He’d be getting off this ship. Not just out of this damn office and the minimalist amount of space he’d been granted as his cell, but he would actually leave this damn ship. He knew Hux was only doing this to get something more out of him, but right now it didn’t matter. He was desperate for some unfiltered air. Even if it was the grey, dusty air down below. And maybe he could even find a way off this rock if he only pretended to cooperate for a while. “I meant,” Poe said as he stood right in front of Hux, eyes trailing from the firmly set jaw up to the cool green eyes that looked almost grey in this unflattering bright light, “There wasn’t even a knock, or a chime. People just get in here?”</p><p>             Hux’s frown deepened and he took a moment before he answered. “You were in command, were you not?”</p><p>             Poe felt the sting of the words, but the blow was less painful than he would have expected. There was no viciousness in Hux’s voice. “Sure,” Poe said, sensing what Hux might be getting at.</p><p>             “Would you not agree that allowing the people directly under your command to come to you with urgent problems without having to go through some bureaucratic nonsense is vital?”</p><p>             The laugh burst out of him before he could stop it, and from the way Hux was shifting now, he was almost sure that Hux had been about to punch in his nose and Poe quickly composed himself. “I’m sorry,” he said, finding the words tasting unfamiliar on his tongue when they were spoken to Hux. Hux, who was truly full of bantha shit. He couldn’t possibly believe what he was saying, could he? But he didn’t say that. “I never pictured you as the kind of person who hates bureaucracy.”</p><p>             Hux scoffed and turned away from him to head over to the turbolift. The two Stormtroopers still stood there, unmoving, but from experience Poe knew that they would join him the moment he was inside the small cabin. They were constantly vigilant, always on the look-out for him making a move. One time, Poe had only inched closer to one of them and had found himself staring down the barrel of a blaster.</p><p>             “That door is never locked, but always open for anybody who needs to speak with me directly,” Hux said almost casually, though Poe doubted any odd Stormtrooper could just waltz in here and complain about the horrible food they were being served. No, Hux might want to make himself seem approachable now, but clearly people knew where he drew the line. And that officer’s message had been clearly important, and too sensitive to entrust even to the comms of the <em>Vengeance.</em></p><p>             Poe nodded, frowning. “Okay…”  He shrugged. “So… kyber crystals?”</p><p>             Hux didn’t answer, but waited until the Stormtroopers were inside the lift as well and the doors had closed. “It is a sensitive topic,” he said, clearly guessing Poe’s line of thought.</p><p>             “You’re gonna build more super weapons to destroy even more worlds? I bet that was fun.” He couldn’t help the bitter undertone. His grandparents had died when Alderaan was destroyed. There wasn’t a whole lot he knew about them, his mother never liked talking about it, but he remembered her pain all too well. In a way he was glad she didn’t have to witness the destruction of the Hosnian system as well.</p><p>             He wasn’t expecting an answer from Hux. The man was too clever to even attempt justifying his actions or react to the stab. Instead, he tugged at his gloves, eyes fixed on the closed door. For a moment Poe wondered how long it might take Hux draw that small knife from his sleeve.</p><p>             They emerged on a level Poe hadn’t seen yet. Not that he had seen a lot of this Star Destroyer so far, but he was relieved to see a corridor that looked significantly different from the one outside his cell. He even thought he could smell faint traces of engine oil on the filtered air as they walked towards a wide open blast door, the Stormtroopers now a few feet behind them. Poe caught a few officers standing by one of the consoles looking at them, their eyes resting on <em>him</em> for a few seconds before quickly lowering their gazes. <em>I know,</em> Poe thought glumly, <em>I look like a dork.</em></p><p>             He pulled a face, feeling the damn socks sliding again. Not long now and the cuffs would make their way into his boots again. Why the hell were they so big?!</p><p>             Just as Hux had ordered, the shuttle was already waiting for them in the hangar, making the tips of Poe’s fingers tingle with the urge to at least try and act. To finally rip one of the blasters out of the Stormtroopers’ hands and seize control of the ship. To get away from here.</p><p>             The door to the cockpit was locked, though, and there were already two Stormtroopers waiting for them inside. That meant five against him and Poe quickly discarded the fleeting thought he’d had.</p><p>             Swallowing hard, he sat down next to Hux as the Stormtroopers took up position on either end of the shuttle. He felt the soft vibrations underneath his feet when the engine started, but apart from that he felt little to nothing of the ship taking off.</p><p>             Hux took out his datapad and started typing. Always busy. Always working. Poe wondered what else he could occupy his mind with in the next few days. Was boredom Hux’s ultimate way of torturing him into submission?</p><p>             Swallowing hard, he closed his eyes and leaned back against the cool metal of the shuttle. Well, at least this day was different from the previous one. And maybe, if he let Hux think he was docile enough, he might actually find himself in a situation which could actually lead to freedom. Poe only wished he were a more patient person.</p><p>Beside him, Hux cleared his throat and Poe peeked at him from underneath closed eyelashes. Hux looked relaxed, leaning back as well, eyes on his datapad, chin resting on his gloved wrist. Why were those even part of the uniform? It wasn’t that cold onboard and Poe didn’t see any other practical implications.</p><p>“How did you do it?” Hux asked quietly, his voice so low that the Stormtroopers couldn’t hear.</p><p>Poe folded his arms over his chest and frowned at him. “What?” What could Hux possibly be referring to? “Dejarik?”</p><p>At this, Hux seemed startled as he returned Poe’s gaze. His lip twitched into something that was almost a smile. It completely changed his face, especially when his eyes weren’t looking at him like he was a disgusting slug. “No,” he said, the smile vanishing as quickly as it had come, leaving his face as impassive as ever. “The fleet. How did you do it?”</p><p>“Ah…” Poe was tempted to look at his hands again, but instead he kept looking at Hux. “Well, obviously it didn’t work as we had planned…” He raised one of his brows, his heart thumping in his chest. It would never stop hurting. He was certain of that now. But he kept going. It was just what he did, wasn’t it? “Rose Tico figured out a way to slice into the systems and start all the Star Destroyers’ cores to overload… you know, we got a few useful hints from inside the Order… but I don’t think the spy realized all the information he’d given up.”</p><p>Hux swallowed visibly and after a moment, he averted his gaze. The engines were loud enough. Nobody had heard Poe speak those words. And even if they did, nobody would ever guess Hux had been the spy. Not this uptight guy who had given his entire life to the cause.</p><p>“You still made mistakes,” Hux said, his free hand in a tight fist.</p><p>“Yes.” There was no denying it, and the stab was as painful as expected and it struck him just as promptly as the others had. Time to change the topic. “Why are you taking me along?”</p><p>“Dameron,” Hux began, his voice a touch higher than it had been just now, “do you <em>want </em>to rot in a cell?”</p><p>“Will you stop pretending I’m the dumbest person you’ve ever met?”</p><p>Hux scoffed and crossed his long legs. “That is not what I am doing,” he hissed.</p><p>“No, you’re trying to charm me, or something. And, yes, I would much rather rot in a cell than help you do whatever it is you’re doing here.”</p><p>Letting out a long sigh, Hux folded his hands in his lap. His green eyes flashed dangerously when he looked at him again. “Will you stop treating me like the enemy?”</p><p>“You <em>are</em> the enemy. You’ve made that pretty clear.” Poe felt his own anger starting to bubble to the surface. He was done playing games and he couldn’t believe Hux was still pretending like he was sincere. Like none of this mattered. Even if they were both stranded here, there were still some principles left that mattered. And blending in with the Order, just pretending that what they were doing was for the greater good, stood against everything he had fought and bled for. It stood against everything his friends died for. Playing dejarik was one thing, it was a way to pass the time, but if the hours he had spent with Hux had taught him anything, it was that Hux was just as desperate to pass the time as he was. Nothing more.</p><p>             For a moment there Hux looked taken aback. “You know, I find your attitude tiresome.”</p><p>             “Oh, well, if you find me tiresome, then I’m very sorry. I apologize for all the inconvenience I’ve caused you. Hey, maybe you can play your fucking game with one of your friends over there.” He pointed to the Stormtroopers, feeling a pang of guilt in his chest the moment he did. Finn had been one of them. Finn had been the best man he’d ever known. These people did not deserve to be used for pointless stabs at Hux’s ego.</p><p>             Raising his eyebrows, Hux got up. Poe hadn’t even noticed the soft thump signalling the shuttle had landed. Hux waved at the Stormtroopers to go on ahead the second the shuttle’s ramp was lowered and he towered over Poe, the datapad still lying in the abandoned seat. The grey light streaming in from the opening behind Hux made him look even paler. “You are impertinent.”</p><p>             Poe stood up as well. Hux didn’t move an inch, leaving him barely any room to move. Why the hell was Hux so damn tall? “Fine. You find me impertinent. You find me tiresome. Got anything better to throw at me?”</p><p>             “A few things,” Hux said quietly and then he took a deep breath. When he exhaled, Poe felt the waft of warm air pass over his face, pressing up against his cheeks. They were completely alone. No guards, no other eyes trained on them. But still he kept his voice low. It was barely more than a whisper and his breath Poe’s skin with every syllable. “But I would like to point out that I could have you killed easily enough. There would be questions, yes, but ultimately they would not matter. The point is, I need you.” The green eyes drifted over his face. Hux’s eyebrows were knit so tightly together they almost formed a single line and he looked as though he was thinking hard. Trying to find the right strategy. He had the same look when he’d tried to figure out how Poe had beaten him. “I need you to help me restore the Order.”</p><p>             “Fat chance of that happening.”</p><p>             “Let us strike a deal then,” Hux said, his voice tense and very low. “You help me, I will let you go after you served your purpose. I will even make sure you have a say in what happens to those still rebelling against the Order.”</p><p>             Poe’s breath hitched in his chest and for a second he felt the words hanging on his lips that would force him to fall in line. Just the chance of having a voice again, of ensuring the people who fought for justice could live to see another day, made his mouth go dry. He gulped. “No,” he said, thinking of the Hosnian system. Of Finn and Rose and Rey. Of Kijimi Of Snap and Jess and everyone else in his squadron. They needed him, even now. Complying with this regime was out of the question. “You have no power over anything but this single Star Destroyer. You need me to play along so you can reclaim your own position.”</p><p>             “Yes,” Hux said simply. Calmly and Poe noticed the brief flickering in his nostrils he’d noticed before. The very same tell Hux showed before he made a move that would end the game within a few moves.</p><p>             Here he was.</p><p>             Playing the game after all. Without meaning to.</p><p>             Because, what else was there to do but stare into Hux’s eyes, standing so closely together they almost touched. How easy it would be for Hux to ram his knife into Poe’s neck. For Poe to grab him and try to wrestle that knife from his hands before Hux knew what hit him. But that was out of the question too, wasn’t it? It wouldn’t get either of them anywhere.</p><p>             Hux was no liar.</p><p>             He was vicious and clever. Good at hiding his feelings, but as far as Poe could tell there was nothing devious about him. As far as Poe could tell. The problem was, Poe didn’t know him very well.</p><p>             “The thing is,” Hux added after a moment, and Poe’s stomach lurched, almost sure that, undoubtedly Hux would bring up his father. That Hux would now, finally tell him, that Kes Dameron was a prisoner of the Final Order and would be executed it Poe didn’t cooperate. But instead he said: “We are at an impasse, are we not? Neither one of us are getting anywhere in this. Without your cooperation, I will not regain control over the Order. Without me, you will not get away from here. So I suggest you suck it up.”</p><p>             Poe felt his breath catching in his chest. Hux still hadn’t moved and his stare, though menacing, was more sincere than Poe had seen it yet. “Suck it up?” Poe repeated, willing himself to make those words go away. His father was safe. Hux hadn’t even mentioned him. Why? Why not use him as bait? Poe doubted Hux hadn’t studied his file and proceeded in this without even considering bringing up his family.</p><p>             “You heard me.”</p><p>             Poe pressed his lips into a thin line, thinking hard. It wasn’t helped by the fact that the damn sock started drooping again. “What will I get in return?”</p><p>             “I already said-“</p><p>             “Not good enough,” Poe interrupted him. He took a deep breath. They were alone. They hadn’t been alone like this since the moment he woke up in the infirmary. Once they went outside, the Stormtroopers would be back in control of him. There might not be another chance to gain as much ground as possible in the near future.</p><p>             “I will not make promises I cannot keep.”</p><p>             Poe nodded. That was something at least. “Tell you what,” he said quietly. “Let’s call a truce.”</p><p>             “A truce,” Hux echoed, raising his brow, but taking a step back to give Poe some room to breathe. “Elaborate.”</p><p>             “Be straight with me. No more kriffing around. I want to know what’s going on out there. None of that propaganda bantha shit. I want to know who’s left of the Resistance. Who’s fighting.”</p><p>             “And in return?”</p><p>             Poe let out a long breath. “I’ll play along. Parade me around the ship if you need to, but don’t expect me to gush over your fancy Final Order equipment or those perfectly pressed uniforms. It won’t work.”</p><p>             The smirk that appeared on Hux’s face now, made the tension leave Poe’s shoulders. Hux stretched out his right hand to him. “You have a deal, Dameron,” he said quietly and when Poe shook the hand, he was surprised to find the leather warm and soft to the touch.</p><p>             “Fine,” Poe said, dropping the hand again quickly. “Let’s take a look at that damn mine then.”</p><p>             Hux’s eyes trailed over his face again before taking another step back again, finally giving Poe the space he needed to try and pull up the stockings under the stiff trousers.</p><p>“What the devil are you doing?”</p><p>“These socks- stockings, whatever… how do you <em>not</em> do this all the time? They’re huge.”</p><p>Hux considered him for a moment, one of his eyebrows slightly raised. “The garters are vital,” he said coolly before turning away from him and moving to follow the Stormtroopers down the ramp. As he passed one of the brilliantly stark lights illuminating the loading ramp, Poe wondered if he was imagining it, or if the skin on Hux’s neck was flushed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh.... the garters.They're entirely @ArsTyrannus's @Itssteffnow's fault. The one drew a Hux strip tease on Twitter, the other posted a wonderful gingerpilot piece and now garters are part of the FO uniform. Sorry, that's canon now.</p><p>Apart from that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a comment before leaving. They help me write more ;)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>“If the lab results do indeed confirm that what was found below the surface is kyber, that information will have to be handled carefully,” Hux was saying, though Poe was hardly paying attention. The entrance to the cave was little more than a narrow opening, secured by heavy support beams. It was easier to look at those than at the officer now standing at attention in front of Hux. She was about as tall as Hux, which was saying something, and she looked about as gaunt as he did. Slim with very high cheekbones, though not as pale.</p><p>             “Yes, Sir,” the woman said. Poe had noticed the insignia on her sleeve. A lieutenant. “Sir, do I take it this operation is confidential?”</p><p>             Hux clasped his hands behind his back and started moving forwards, only hesitating briefly before entering the confines of the mine shaft and down the steep slope leading further below ground. His shoulders were squared as he walked beside the lieutenant and Poe threw a quick look over his shoulder at the guards before following them too. He still wasn’t sure he’d made the right decision here, but it was either that and move forward at least a bit, or stay put until the Order decided he really was of no more use to them and he was executed.</p><p>             “Not officially, no.” Hux looked at him over his shoulder as they moved further into the cave. The artificial lights shone brightly, but only illuminated the black rock in places. It was hard to make out anything in here but the coal black rock.</p><p>             Up ahead, past Hux and the lieutenant, Poe spotted a vaster cavern in which a team of about twenty people was working busily at securing more of the walls. Was being in here even safe? Somehow Poe doubted that. The dust and pieces of rock scattered over the cracked surface.</p><p>             “What does that mean?” Poe found himself asking, the echoing footfalls of the Stormtroopers behind him urging him to pick up the pace. Knowing they were behind him, blasters at the ready wasn’t in the least bit comforting. Who could tell if Hux hadn’t taken him here to arrange an accident for him despite what he’d said just now.</p><p>             The lieutenant looked at him briefly. But neither she, nor Hux answered him. Instead, she showed them around, staying away from the workers so they didn’t disturb them. They were no Stormtroopers, Poe realized, but relatively young men and women in light grey uniforms, busy with collecting samples from the rock or setting up more supportive structures. They were in the larger cavern now. The floor must have been polished once, crumbling pillars supporting the high ceiling. It was colder down here. The tip of his nose was already icy and the air smelled muskier than it had up on the surface. They can’t have walked more than ten minutes and already this place felt different. The bright lights of the cavern were still there, but they shone a more indirect light on the roughly hewn walls. A strange iridescent glow, almost like a faint glittering was coming from those, bathing their surroundings into an ominous light.</p><p>             Nobody seemed particularly interested in that, though. He barely listened to the lieutenant, whom Hux addressed as Kandia at some point, though he caught the words <em>Project Auger</em> and <em>excavation.</em> He kept glancing at the workers, wondering how old they were. They looked barely out of their teens. Like they had been pulled from school far too soon. And maybe they were. Maybe they were to be officers and had to serve as regular workers now that the First Order was short on slaves out here.</p><p>             “Keep me informed,” Hux said. “And make sure the information is not passed to me via comm. Everyone working down here is to be quiet about the exploration until we can confirm anything.”</p><p>             The woman nodded. “Yes, Sir.”</p><p>“Why?” Poe asked quietly, catching up to Hux once the lieutenant had turned away and headed back to her team. The socks were on the verge of slipping into his boots. Kriff, he hated this. Garters… as if… the Order might be old-fashioned, but they weren’t that old-fashioned! He avoided pinching at the fabric again.</p><p>Raising an eyebrow, Hux nodded towards one of the three tunnels leading off the main chamber and gestured for the Stormtroopers to stay where they were. That was a first. Hux willingly leaving his bodyguards behind like this, but Poe followed him anyway. He had to remind himself that this planet was not only the place where the Final Order’s fleet had been built and where it was supposed to launch from, but that this had also been the place where Sheev Palpatine had chosen to hide out for the past thirty years. Surely this place was associated with Sith. No wonder the flooring looked like it had once been polished to perfection and the pillars of towering above them seemed like there had once been faces carved into them. Some mouths and eyes were still vaguely discernible.</p><p>He shuddered involuntarily as he passed into the tunnel with Hux. The air felt even stuffier, something on the air making it downright hard to breathe. What a terrible place this was. “Now what? You’re gonna shoot me after all?”</p><p>Hux stopped dead in his tracks. “Don’t be ridiculous, Dameron.” He raised his hand and touched one of the fine silvery lines that almost seemed like they were woven into the very fabric of the rock. “Do you know what this is?”</p><p>“What?” Poe folded his arms over his chest. How could a place feel stuffy and icy cold at the same time? Frowning, he followed Hux’s gloved hand as it traced the line. “What? That’s kyber?”</p><p>“It’s a trace of a mineral that is very similar to kyber, yes.” He took a deep breath.</p><p>“So, if crystals are found down here, you’ll actually be able to build more super weapons.”</p><p>In the dim light, Poe could hardly make out Hux’s face, but what he did see was nothing even close to a triumphant smile. It was more of a grimace than anything else “Yes.”</p><p>“So, why don’t you want these findings on any official records for now? You must be thrilled to have something worthwhile to report.” If anything could save Hux’s position, it was probably them finding this.</p><p>“There are some information that shouldn’t go out until their true value can be assessed.” Hux said quietly, taking a step back from the wall before he turned to look at Poe again. The light from the main cavern was right in his face now. White and unflattering, but up close like this Poe could make out every twitch of muscle. There were a few freckles on his nose. Faint and barely visible, but clearly there.</p><p>“Assess away then, General.”</p><p>Hux’s brows furrowed, his green eyes almost grey in the current light. “Do you know about Ilum?”</p><p>“No.” He watched Hux fight a scornful grimace before the other turned to look at the stone walls again. There were crates stashed out on the ground at their feet. Crates holding equipment that wouldn’t be needed straight away. But Hux’s gaze wasn’t drawn to those. He was still looking at the silvery marble in the dark stone.</p><p>“Ilum was a planet sacred to the Jedi,” he explained. “It was where most of them went to get the kyber crystals for their lightsabers. The crystals could be found deep within the planet, the networks of them almost stretching to the core.” He clasped his hands behind his back again, the leather creaking softly as he did so. “When the Empire wiped out the Jedi, it moved one of its major mining operations there.”</p><p>Poe swallowed hard. He’d often wondered where the Empire had gotten the crystals used in the Death Stars. “They managed to exploit the whole planet.”</p><p>Hux’s mouth twitched into a smile that lacked every trace of humour. “In a way,” he said quietly, his voice deeper now that he was speaking so low again. “For a while the mining continued, until one of the Empire’s finest engineers came up with another suitable use. Something that would consume fewer resources than a Death Star, but would take longer to construct.” Finally he turned to look at him again. “The kyber within the planet’s crust was the perfect conductor, but the project was abandoned five years before the battle of Jakku and was only reactivated ten years ago.”</p><p>“What’re you talking about? Another giant battle station? The First Order will hardly need that now, will it?”</p><p>Hux pursed his lips. “Ilum was destroyed several months ago,” he answered. “You blew it up, though I believe you are more familiar with its other name: Starkiller Base?”</p><p>Poe’s eyes widened and he turned to look at the veins of silver. No. Of kyber. If this planet was even close to being as rich in kyber as Ilum had been…</p><p>“Yes,” Hux nodded. “You see now why I don’t want High Command to know about this yet? We cannot afford to waste resources like this again. Starkiller was a devastating mistake. It ate up enormous amounts of financial resources, especially in the last few years of its construction and-“</p><p>“Hang on, you fired it!” Poe interrupted him, finding Hux raising an eyebrow at him. What a jerk. Hux had been in command of that base. Poe had seen recordings of the speech. He actually seen Hux shout himself into a flaming rage.</p><p>“Those were my orders. Don’t tell me you would have refused to fire any such weapon under orders of the New Republic if it meant taking out the entire First Order.”</p><p>Poe fell silent, Hux’s words left a hollow feeling in his chest. Hadn’t he done it? Destroyed an entire planet knowing that it would kill thousands?</p><p>Yes. Yes, he had done it, but for a good reason. Starkiller base would have been used again. It would have destroyed even more systems. And, yes, he had helped wipe out the Sith fleet, killing hundreds of thousands more. And for what?</p><p>Nothing but bitterness and defeat were left now. And it would go on like this. For as long as people kept fighting wars. Somehow Poe didn’t believe that would ever stop. He turned to look at the mineral again. He knew so little about Jedi and Sith. About their lore and why the heck they didn’t just mine kyber like the Empire had done. Wasn’t one crystal like the other?</p><p>Maybe he was just too daft to sense it.</p><p>“Whatever you say, Hugs,” he finally said, “but you know as well as I do that this kyber will be put to use. There must be other mine shafts here already. The Sith fleet must have taken tons of kyber from here already if they really used this planet’s crystals to make their super lasers. There will be another base here, if only to honor your wicked Emperor. And there will be more super weapons.”</p><p>Hux made to walk back into the cavern, but he paused right beside Poe. Their shoulders were almost touching. “Maybe,” he said, “but I would prefer it if those things happened on my terms.”</p><p>Poe let out a huff and shook his head. He wished he could finally start getting over the fact that he wanted Hux to be better than this. That he wanted Hux to stop saying thing like this. He’d been relieved when the other man saved his life. Relieved and excited to find his suspicions confirmed. Hux was the spy. The one who had saved lives over and over again this past year. And for what? To talk about building new super weapons now? To still be attached to this wicked system that put kids to work in mines?</p><p>No, he had to stop longing for this other guy. The more time passed, the more apparent it became that Hux didn’t even try to be that guy. Truly, he had only worked against the new leadership of the Order. Never for the people of this galaxy.</p><p>Then why did Poe keep expecting Hux to be better? It was downright ridiculous. “We done here?” he said instead, turning around to face the cavern again. Hux still hadn’t moved. He was still standing right there next to him, hands clasped behind his back, looking out into the cavern.</p><p>“I suppose so,” Hux said now and he hesitated for a moment before he continued: “Allegiant General Pryde is leading High Command now. Several commanders there are loyal to him. They are about his age. They are of the older generation. Those who revered the Emperor and fled to the Unknown Regions. Several of them are still alive. Those are the ones keen on reliving the former glory of the Empire.”</p><p>“I thought you were all keen on that.”</p><p>Hux sneered at that, eyes still trained on the cavern and the pillars inside. “The Empire was a corrupt system, aimed at nothing but at pleasing the Emperor.”</p><p>Poe nodded, surprised that he found himself agreeing with Hux. But the hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach remained. “There were many who profited from that system. The Order isn’t that much better.”</p><p>“Perhaps,” Hux said quietly. “But no system of government is perfect. At least corruption isn’t our biggest problem. And until Kylo Ren took control, serving a self-centred bastard wasn’t either.”</p><p>Clearing his throat was the only answer Poe could give. He didn’t feel like diving straight into another argument. Maybe Hux didn’t even see what the Order was doing to the people under its boot. Maybe he really was that blind.</p><p>And there he was again, trying to tell himself that Hux was better than he really was. That he was ignorant, rather than fully aware of what the regime he was working for had done. That standing idly by as entire populations were enslaved and children trained to be soldiers was all he could do. Because Hux had power, or rather, he’d had power once, and he hadn’t used it to make things better.</p><p>“We do not have to agree an anything, Dameron,” Hux said, “but at least we can agree that the people responsible for building the Death Stars and Starkiller Base and the axial superlasers should not be made aware of the potential of this planet, am I right?”</p><p>Poe nodded, hating himself for it. “If your ship has one of those super lasers, you could just blow it up too? Make it look like an accident? It would solve a couple of problems.”</p><p>At this, Hux actually smiled at him. Not for long, but the smile was there, making him look younger from one second to the next. When it was gone, Hux’s eyes returned to the cavern. “That is not a bad idea, Dameron.” He took a few steps back towards the exit and watched as the lieutenant approached them. “Maybe you could suggest a lottery among the crew and whoever wins will be blamed for the accident.”</p><p>“Who’d have thought…” Poe muttered. “You actually have a sense of humour.”</p><p>The lieutenant was approaching fast, holding her datapad in her hand. She passed by the group of kids working, looked at them and paused to give them instructions.</p><p>“I never said I didn’t. I only don’t take well to jokes about my-“ he stopped mid-sentence, cut off by a tremor that shook the floor and reverberated through his very bones. The lieutenant took a step back as dust started raining down on her.</p><p>Poe heard her shout at the kids to get to safety, saw, out of the corner of her eye that the Stormtroopers were moving, running to reach Hux who took a step towards the group when the first pillar started to tip over. In horror he watched as the cloud of dust rose high, enveloping them both. With a loud crash the pillar hit the wall. Coughing, Poe looked up, at the first head on the pillar starting to break off and fall down, towards the kids.</p><p>Hux hollered something into the wall of noise, making for the group of kids as the falling pillar scratched along the wall, bringing down even more rocks. Poe couldn’t see. He couldn’t breathe. He could barely hear anything over the loud crashing sounds as his heart thumped wildly in his chest. He only saw the boulder falling. Falling straight towards Hux and he acted before he knew what was happening. Before he could even start to think about it.</p><p>He grabbed Hux, pulled him towards him and slammed him to the ground. Next second he felt the ground shake as the boulder landed mere feet from them. Hux lay buried beneath him as the world came crashing down on them.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Whoops! A cliffhanger! </p><p>I wish I could have spent more time on the garters, but there was no time for them in here. I hope you're not disappointed :-P</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Oh God, I hope this chapter is alright. I am dead on my feet, but I wanted to publish this rather short piece tonight before I start working on "The Beauty Underneath" again tomorrow. </p><p> </p><p>Quick warning: there's death and children dying in here especially. Just so you know.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p>Time stood still. All Poe heard was the loud crashing around them, the screams of people who were far too young to be in a situation like this and the rushing of his own blood in his ears. He had his eyes closed, as he lay there, on top of Hux, the other man’s hot breath against his hand. Something streaked past his shoulder, barely missing him and next second he suppressed a scream as another object hit his leg, slicing his skin.</p><p>             Within moments it was all over and the silence that settled over the cave only lasted a few seconds, but in the time it took his heart to hammer just a few times he listened to the rapid breathing of the man lying beneath him as the hot wetness made soaked his pant leg.</p><p>             Hux was alive. He was breathing. And he was shaking like a leaf.</p><p>             And then the shouts started. Orders being yelled into the silence. The sound of feet hurrying towards them.</p><p>Blinking, Poe stared at the dusty red hair right in front of him.</p><p>             Hux’s his whole body was tense under his touch and Poe quickly let go of him as the shouts grew louder. He sat up, staring at the sharp piece of rock that had only grazed his leg, before he stared at the crumbled pillar in front of him. At the hand sticking out from underneath one of the boulders, the fingers twitching faintly in the semi darkness that had settled on them. Coughing, he came to his feet. Already the soldiers stationed outside had rushed in, starting to pull the boulders away as one of them hurried towards him and Hux.</p><p>             Hux, who was still a trembling mess on the ground.</p><p>             “Sir!” The muffled voice addressed him, but Hux swatted him away and sat up. Even paler than usual, his pupils blown, he stared at the children buried in front of him under heaps of rock, remnants of the crumbled pillar.</p><p>             He shook his head and started to say something, but Poe ignored him. Now was not the time to worry about Hux. And for once nobody paid him any attention. He hurried forward on his injured leg, grabbed the first stone he could and rolled it over. It was lighter than he had feared, the inside of the rock slightly porose, but it was still far too heavy for his liking. He could not do this for hours on end.</p><p><em>No</em>, he thought.</p><p>
  <em>One rock at a time.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You can do this.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You have to.</em>
</p><p> Tears were streaming down his face as his hands kept working, his mind focused on one thing and one thing only: those kids. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a movement. An arm clad in black just like his own, reaching for the same rock as him. It was twice the size as BB-8. Was it the same one he had pulled Hux away from? Who could say anymore?</p><p>             Poe looked up briefly, saw the smears of dirt and tears on Hux’s face and put that image away quickly before his damn mind could do anything with it. Now was not the time. He nodded briefly, then, together, they pushed the boulder away, letting it fall to the ground behind them and next second they started throwing more rocks as several more Stormtroopers hurried into the cave to help.</p><p>             <em>Please</em>, Poe thought desperately,<em> let the kid be alive.</em></p><p>             Hux groaned. He was already at the next big rock and Poe rushed to his side, lifting it. His back was aching and the throbbing pain in his leg was no help, but somehow they managed it. Hux was stronger than he looked.</p><p>             And there was a shoulder. Poe let the rock fall and Hux knelt down on the ground, reaching into what looked like a small hollow to touch the shoulder, then his hand slid down the arm to feel for a pulse. “They’re alive,” he breathed and raised his voice. “Listen, cadet, we are going to get you out of here.”</p><p>             Poe set to work again. He couldn’t focus on that either. It wouldn’t help, though the tone of Hux’s voice reverberated within him, making his eyes water. He heard another low rumbling as a couple of rocks rolled towards them from where the Stormtroopers were heaving them off the children.</p><p>             Children. That’s what they were.</p><p>             Not cadets or soldiers. Children.</p><p>             His mouth was dry as he kept pulling the rocks off the heap and within minutes they had uncovered the head. The face of the girl was stained with blood, her blond hair sticking to the side of her head, which, mercifully, had been not been smashed. The rocks had tilted, forming a small hollow that had spared her the worst injuries. At least she was alive.</p><p>She was blinking up at him as he grabbed her from behind, his arms under her shoulders while Hux kept moving more stones off of her.</p><p>             “You okay, kid?” Poe asked, wishing he could do something, anything to make her realize she might be alright, though Poe was sure there were a few broken bones there.</p><p>             She didn’t speak, only hissed when he started lifting her. Hux met his eyes, but he didn’t flinch when her lips parted to let out an agonized scream.</p><p>             “We’ll need a stretcher,” Poe said and, nodding, Hux waved at someone over Poe’s shoulder while Poe pulled her further out from the last few rocks and immediately Hux was there to help him, his eyes fixed on the girl’s face. She was only whimpering now. It wasn’t encouraging, but at least she was still making sounds.</p><p>             The stretcher was there by their side within seconds and Poe and Hux gently lowered her down on it. Hux was kneeling by her side, his gloved hand on her arm. “Cadet!” Hux was speaking loudly, but his voice was still void of  cruelty or annoyance at her. She stared up at him, her brown eyes open wide in shock. “The medics will take good care of you,” Hux said, his voice lower now. “They will do all they can, do you hear me?”</p><p>             Poe gently let her down, so she was lying on the stretcher and took a step back to make room for the Stormtroopers. They worked in perfect unison, approaching her and lifting the stretcher with as much care as possible. Better to focus on that than on the words from Hux.</p><p>             She nodded. “Yes, General.” No word of thanks, but her wide eyes were still fixed on Hux. Her lip was trembling and only when Hux said: “Relax, Soldier,” did she let her head fall back, her eyes closed.</p><p>             This whole scenario was so surreal. The exchange between the two of them so finely tuned, Poe felt more of an outsider than ever before. The words weren’t gentle, but the tone had been. Swallowing hard, he turned to look at Hux, who was facing the rubble again. One of the new arrivals, an officer in a dark grey uniform, approached him. Already there were twenty or so more Stormtroopers and other officers at the heap of rubble and Poe watched in horror at the two lifeless forms they had already recovered.</p><p>             Two boys. The dust covering their hair made them look far older than they ought to be.</p><p>             “How many were there?” Poe whispered and the officer’s eyes quickly shifted to him. He stood straight.</p><p>“Thirty-two, Sir.”</p><p>             Poe swallowed hard. The lieutenant had addressed him. Not Hux. He felt a chill running down his spine.</p><p>             Hux stiffened visibly, but he nodded at the man to keep going, once again clasping his hands firmly behind his back.</p><p>             “So far four have been recovered alive. There are still eighteen life signs trapped underneath the rubble still, General. Five more droids are on their way.”</p><p>             “Lieutenant Kandia?”</p><p>             “We have not recovered her body yet.”</p><p>             Hux’s face froze and he swallowed visibly. For a brief moment he stood stock still, unmoving as the Stormtroopers and officers worked on recovering those still trapped underneath. There were more than enough people there right now. Enough people more adapt at what they were doing. There was urgency in the air, a sense of dread, but no panic.</p><p>             No more panic.</p><p>             There was a system at work. A system which had taken over the people here and which would guarantee a swift extraction with a unified focus.</p><p>             Poe’s mouth went dry as his eyes darted to the way out. It hadn’t collapsed. It stood wide open and he felt his stomach plummet. There had been his chance. The best distraction he could have wished for to get out of here. To at least try and make a run for it.</p><p>             But he’d stayed.</p><p>             “I will go back to the <em>Vengeance,</em>” Hux said. “Send me a report as soon as possible.”</p><p>             A report on what? On the casualties? On the possible difficulties of exploring the mine now?</p><p>             Hux turned to face him, his eyes trained on Poe’s, his expression unreadable. Poe had saved him, but Poe wasn’t expecting a word of thanks. He only knew that he hadn’t even thought of trying to make a run for it.</p><p>             Hux’s face was still smeared with dirt, though the stains on his cheeks were barely more than faint shadows. His entire uniform was wrecked. Poe probably didn’t look any better, but Poe didn’t give a damn.</p><p>             “You should go to the infirmary,” Hux said coolly, though there was a slight tremor to his voice that hadn’t been there before. His eyes trailed down Poe’s form, lingering on the torn leg. “Come on, let me escort you there.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This might not be an easy chapter to stomach. No violence, but memories and trauma</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>The assembled dirt on the floor was the exact shame of his footprint. It was a view he wasn’t used to against the black surface. Aboard any Star Destroyer any speck of dust was eliminated withing minutes by a droid.</p><p>             Specks of dust strewn around it drew his attention. Better to focus on those.</p><p>“What’s Project Auger?”</p><p>             Hux only barely managed not to flinch. He slowly sat up, and turned his head. Dameron was sitting further away from him than he had on the way down to the planet. “Excuse me?”</p><p>             “You and that Lieutenant. You talked about Project Auger.” His hair was grey with dust. Somehow it didn’t make him look older. Hux hadn’t really looked at him since the cave.</p><p>             “It was an Imperial excavation site,” he said. His mouth was dry. How much of that dust had he actually swallowed? He wiped his hand over his burning eyes. Whenever he closed them, even for a brief moment, he saw that hand twitching underneath the rock. “On one of the outer rim planets.” Talking. Talking would help. Even if it was about something as insignificant as this. Anything to keep those pictures at bay. “It had some importance to Palpatine because of ancient Force related relics. When the Empire abandoned Project Auger, they left behind a skeleton crew to protect what was left if the mining equipment, but they abandoned the planet after Jakku. Ever since little to no activity has been reported on that planet. Two years ago Lieutenant Kandia discovered old entries about it in our database and we started salvaging what mining equipment we could.”</p><p>             Lieutenant Kandia was dead. There had been no trace of life signs from her. Just this one beacon telling the Stormtroopers where to look for her body. What an end to a woman like her.</p><p>             He frowned at his knees, urging himself to stop thinking about that too. “After the demise of Starkiller Base it would be even more useful to salvage that equipment. And to employ what knowledge the Empire had gained from the excavations on that planet.”</p><p>             “Which planet?”</p><p>             Hux balled his hands into fists, relieved to feel the soft jerking of the ship as it finally landed. “It is of no importance,” he said.</p><p>             Dameron sighed. “Fine,” he grumbled and when he got to his feet, Hux couldn’t help but notice that Dameron was leaning surreptitiously on his uninjured leg. “So you were interested in finding stuff that might have been left behind by Sith worshippers. Not disturbing at all. Because I guess the First Order, or the Final Order, or whatever had enough mining equipment. I mean, you finished Starkiller Base, there has obviously been some mining underneath Exegol, maybe not in the cave we were in, but still… so what was the end game?”</p><p>             Sith artefacts… yes, that was probably what Dameron was thinking about. And he wasn’t entirely wrong. Those items needed to be found and destroyed, lest another Force sensitive bastard managed to rip the Order from the hands of the people who needed to be in control.</p><p>             “The machines used for mining were mostly stored in the shipyard, I believe.” It was what Kandia had suggested anyway, and he didn’t believe she was far off the mark.  “And those were destroyed, as you know.” He shot up and tugged at his gloves, willing them to cover more of his skin. Behind him, he heard their escort shuffle while Dameron still sat in his seat, eyes trained on Hux’s face. The damn man seemed on the verge of saying something impertinent, but he thought better of it and joined Hux.</p><p>             “The infirmary isn’t far.”</p><p>             “I just need a bandage, it’ll be fine.”</p><p>             “Don’t be ridiculous,” Hux snapped at him as they made their way through the hangar and he kept ignoring the occasional glances Dameron threw him. He had ordered to get the first shuttle with wounded onboard first, and he stood for a moment, watching the medics rush towards the first ship. The girl Dameron and he had dug free would be on there. She was bound to be.</p><p>             Dameron stood beside him now. Dameron hadn’t even tried to make a run for it. In fact, he’d done all he could to get that girl out. He’d used his own body to protect Hux.</p><p>             One medic hurried out of the shuttle, grabbed a small box from a pile and hurried back inside. Her face was focused. Determined. Hux could see that this was urgent. Who was dying in that shuttle? The girl? Someone else? This could be him the medic was tending to, he realized and he quickly turned away to get to the blast doors and the turbo lift right behind it. The sooner he dropped Dameron off at the infirmary, the sooner he’d be back in his own quarters.</p><p>             His hands were still shaking. It was something he couldn’t control except when he was clasping them tightly together. He couldn’t deal with this right now. But he also couldn’t let Dameron see how shaken he still was. Dameron or the Stormtroopers or any damn officer crossing their path.</p><p>             As usual, Dameron followed him and once again they were standing shoulder to shoulder in the lift with the Stormtroopers taking up most of the room in their dusty armour.</p><p>             “Listen, I don’t need the infirmary, I’m fine.”</p><p>             “Protocol dictates that injuries of that scale need to be tended to.” Where the heck had Dameron lived? Did the Resistance just let their people bleed and die of infection? If so, it was no surprise they hadn’t gained more followers in the past year.</p><p>             With an exasperated sigh, Dameron folded his hands over his chest. “I just think there are bound to be more important things these people need to tend do.” There was another note in his voice. Was it insecurity? Doubts? What was it?</p><p>             Raising his eyebrow, Hux turned to look at him, but Dameron’s gaze was fixed on the panel next to the door. For the first time since this whole thing started, Dameron didn’t look like this was nothing to him. No… no that was wrong. Hux couldn’t quite put his finger on it until after the door had opened and Hux stepped out into the corridor of the infirmary that he knew what the difference was. What the stiff neck and the slightly hunched shoulders in combination with the averted gaze meant.</p><p>             For the first time Dameron looked almost beaten. Like he was close to giving up. Hux didn’t even know Dameron hadn’t even been close to that point yet. How could this be? How could Dameron only now feel exhausted and beaten? How? And why was Hux disappointed?</p><p>             With a frown he escorted Dameron to the next door.</p><p>             “I thought there’d be more people here.”</p><p>             Hux shook his head. “We’re in the officer’s wing,” he said. “The cadets will be taken to their part of the infirmary. It is closer to their living quarters.”</p><p>             Dameron paused as though he’d never even thought of that being a concept. He opened his mouth as though to ask something, but Hux cut across him before the question could even pass the other’s lips. “I will adjust your datapad’s clearance,” he said curtly when a medic came out of one of the rooms, ready to take over Dameron. “See to it, that General Dameron is treated properly, he told the older man and turned away before Dameron’s gaze could find his. He could not do this. He could not stay here and wait for Dameron to get treated, or remain one minute longer in the company of others.</p><p>             Only when he’d reached the turbolift, did he realize that now, for the first time in hours he was truly alone. Already his fingertips started to tingle and he quickly took out his datapad, to occupy them with something.</p><p>             He took a deep breath, focusing on the letters in front of him and ignoring the messages coming in. The door opened once more and he was in the corridor leading to his quarters. Better to look at his pad than at the people he might encounter there.</p><p>             This had been part of the deal, he reminded himself, trying to push away the image of those eyes boring into his. Full of pity and – what? Hux had managed to ignore it then, amongst the rubble surrounding them, he could do it now in his own space.</p><p>             He barely paid attention to where he was going. His body would find the way automatically, as he typed the command into his datapad, giving Dameron’s datapad access to the entertainment databanks and then, after just a moment’s hesitation, granted access to the Republic’s holo feed as well. That ought to be enough for now.</p><p>             Mechanically he held his wrist in front of the sensor that would let him into the one safe space in the galaxy and let out a long breath the moment the door slid to the side. One more look at the datapad. Just one. To make sure he’d done everything right.</p><p>             Swallowing hard, he thought about how Dameron had done all he could to save the cadet. How he’d made sure that Hux wasn’t killed by that piece of pillar when all Hux could do was stare up at it like the pathetic useless child he had been.</p><p>             And with a trembling hand he added another order beneath the access grant he’d already given, knowing full well he would have to answer to each and every one of them. There were things he could keep off the easily accessible parts of the Order’s net. Some messages labelled strictly private were hard to read even for Pryde, but this… this was something else. Orders issued to give Dameron more freedoms were surely bound to raise an eyebrow here and there.</p><p>             But he could just as well tell his superiors why he had done this. Why he needed Dameron to trust him. To work for him… they didn’t need to know the details. Most likely they wouldn’t even care. At least not for a while.</p><p>             He made his way over to the desk to place the pad in the charging station. His heart was hammering so wildly the soft beeping sound that issued from it, telling once again that another message had come in, made his head spin.</p><p>             He could still hear it. He could still smell it. The low rumbling that drowned out anything was still in his ears. The dust that filled the air was still in his lungs. The dirt was still on his boots.</p><p>             His eyes travelled over the desk and lingered on the left side. To the locked drawer that nobody but him could access. His pulse was still racing. His limbs only obeying him because they were trained to do just this.</p><p>             The gloves were the first thing that landed on the desk. They would be easiest to clean.</p><p>             By the time he made it into the fresher and the tunic landed in the chute that would take it straight to laundry, he was shaking worse than ever. When he finally managed to get rid of his boots and pants, and he registered the sticky substance of blood on the soft fabric, he was close to retching.</p><p>             Finally, after what felt like minutes, he was standing underneath the icy stream of water. His eyes closed. Shaking even more, but grateful for the cold that drove away the memories of another time when he had been trapped. When he had felt the world crumble around him.</p><p>             The twitching fingers.</p><p>             The usual cycle he set now turned the water steaming hot. His skin prickled as he buried his face in his hands and he slowly sank to the floor where the cold water still lingered, washing around him.</p><p>             His mother’s fingers had twitched like that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This story gets darker every time I sit down to write. I'm so so sorry!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p>Routine was what he needed. Routine and work.</p><p>             He stayed up half of his sleep cycle going through the messages that had been sent to him, still ignoring the personal ones from Zeffo. Just looking at them and seeing the little red dot signalling to him that they hadn’t even been opened yet made him want to shove them into a folder where her wouldn’t have to see them anymore. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.</p><p>Not tonight.</p><p>             Instead, he went through the report on supplies they still had onboard and he realized with a shudder that they only had about one month’s worth of rations before they might get into trouble. He quickly typed a request to Mitaka, asking him to check with the salvage crew which supplies had been found in the wreckage. Hux doubted there would be anything that could keep them going another additional week, not with the weather out there and the contamination from overexposure to heat, but there was still a chance. And he didn’t want to ask for a delivery of supplies before he absolutely needed to.</p><p>             He prepared the next report for Pryde last, thinking it might be best to inform him of the freedoms he’d granted Dameron. Best to hide the news behind a veil of assurances. Dameron had signalled that he might cooperate.</p><p>             That was not wrong.</p><p>             Dameron had accompanied him to the planet and lent his assistance in securing a valuable asset.</p><p>             He felt bile rising in his throat at the flowery description, but he couldn’t very well reveal the existence of kyber straight away. Not until he knew for sure what he could do with the information and which security measures he could set in place so another Starkiller Base was never built.</p><p>             Yes, it was true the Final Order had only very few planetside bases, but Starkiller had eaten up more resources than any base should. Being planetside was far from efficient and it made those bases were far too vulnerable. They lost a large part of their Stormtrooper training programme the day Starkiller Base was destroyed, after all, and the Academy his father had started had gone along with it. By now all that was left of their training programs had been shifted to the Star Destroyers, and so far the results were excellent. If the past decades had taught them anything, it was that splitting up their forces unto multiple ships was far more secure than having them trapped in one place all at once. Hadn’t the Republic and the Resistance only confirmed that? Hadn’t the demise of the Sith Fleet been the perfect example?</p><p>             Any massive base of operations made the Order vulnerable.</p><p>             And having more axiol super lasers to defend those bases would only result in more casualties, be they enemy or foe. Hadn’t Tico’s virus proven just that? Starkiller Base had been destroyed in a very similar way, as had both the Death Stars.</p><p>             The Final Order’s main strength lay not in superior weaponry, although that certainly did not hinder their rise to power, but in the ability to adapt and still keep up their ideals. They did not need vast kyber mines or highly destructive super weapons for that.</p><p>             It was something the old generation still hadn’t managed to grasp. It was this very thing that Kylo Ren had ignored and which Rae Sloane had taught him early on.</p><p>             No… no good thinking about Sloane. The mere trace of a thought about her brought back the headaches.</p><p>             When he finally turned off his computer and looked down at his chrono, he wasn’t at all surprised that his sleep cycle was over.</p><p>             He had done it.</p><p>             He had pushed through the night and the next time he fell into bed, he would sleep dreamlessly and without the need of medication.</p><p> </p><p>Poe barely slept that night.</p><p>             After the medic from the infirmary, a not very talkative, but certainly efficient person, told the Stormtroopers to take him back to his quarters, Poe had showered and shoved his ruined clothes down the laundry chute. Afterwards he’d lain on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and listening to the almost inaudible sounds of the ship. The low humming of the engines. The occasional rushing of water in the walls.</p><p>             On any other day these things were calming.</p><p>             That night they made falling asleep next to impossible. It wasn’t until the usual alarm rang straight above his head, that he realized he’d actually spent the entire night staring and avoiding thoughts about the Order. And accompanying those thoughts came the unsettling thoughts about Hux.</p><p>             Hux, who had, without meaning to undoubtedly, shown him that there was concern about the well-being of others within this evil organization. Finn had never told it like that. Finn had barely spoken about his training or the people he’d spent his entire life with.</p><p>             Now Poe almost wished he had.</p><p>             Poe turned on his side, ignoring the bright lights above him and the alarm coming from the speaker above his head that would fade within the next few minutes.</p><p>             He rarely adhered to the Order’s schedule, except for when it was time for his usual game with Hux. Would that even happen now? Would they just go back to that after what had happened the previous day? Just forget that it had happened at all? That they’d struck a temporary truce? How could he? How could he, when he was shaken to his core about the fact that the Order valued life. Even if it was for completely altruistic reasons, but Poe had seen the horror in Hux’s eyes at the realization that people were dying.</p><p>             Was Hux that good an actor after all?</p><p>             No… no, those tears had been real. And hadn’t he decided that Hux was far better at hiding feelings than faking them? Yes, he had.</p><p>             <em>People are generally good, Poe. The galaxy is generally a good place.</em></p><p>             The words, as they popped into his head, shook him almost as much as the realization that the people here cared about each other. At least to a certain degree. There was far less compassion than there had been among the Resistance, but it was there, and once the adrenaline faded and the pain in his leg subsided to a dull throbbing, that thought was harder to bear than the burning and righteous loathing in his chest.</p><p>             And now this.</p><p>             He closed his eyes, trying to hold on to what his mother had said. <em>People are generally good, Poe.</em> She’d been even more of an idealist than him. More than Leia or Rey or Rose.</p><p>             All of them were gone now. Out of reach, leaving him alone among people he couldn’t trust despite what he’d seen, because he knew what else this regime had done. What it had inflicted upon Finn. What it had done to all those people in the Hosnian system and all the other worlds it had already destroyed. No matter what Hux said, no matter what he saw here, Poe didn’t even for a second believe that what they were doing was right.</p><p>             His parents had fought for a galaxy that was ultimately different from what the Order was doing. They wouldn’t have stood for it and Poe wished he could hear his mother say these words to him again, despite everything. He wanted the galaxy to be good. He wanted the people within it to be good. Swallowing hard, Poe buried his face in the thin pillow, feeling his own eyes starting to burn. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this homesick. Not since he’d first run away from home almost twenty years ago and he had to learn to rely on others. That he was not cut out for solitude. For fighting alone.</p><p>             The pain in his chest was growing and there was nothing he could do to stop it. A pressure inside his ribcage that made it hard to breathe and nearly impossible to think as the faces of friends swam before his inner eye. Friends he’d never see again. Who had died just like the cadets. There was no sense in all of this. None. And he knew just trying to find any sense would make it even harder.</p><p>             Another beeping sound made his ears ring. A low chime that made his heart contract painfully because he knew that this beeping, coming from the damn datapad on the small desk would not let go of him.</p><p>             Wiping the tears from his face, he sat up. His lids were hard to keep open, his skin felt sticky with the salt and grime, but he couldn’t find it in him to care. Turning on the screen, he had to blink a few times for the letters to take shape, but when they did, he stared at the screen for a whole minute before he could find it in him to get up.</p><p> </p><p>The rhythmic slapping of wood against wood echoed in his ears as his eyes were trained on his sparring partner. His hands were following the usual moves, going through the usual routine that made him forget where he was or what work lay ahead of him.</p><p>             Every hit reverberated in his very bones, but he hardly cared.</p><p>             His eyes never left his opponent, anticipating every hit as they went through their routine, painfully aware that with Phasma this would have gone down even smoother. There was the occasional hitch in Captain Voya’s movements, not a massive one, but it was perceptible. It never unhinged him or brought Hux out of his rhythm, but it was enough for him to notice and those little moments were sure to make him angry one of these days. Already the frustration was settling in the pit of his stomach.</p><p>             When the warm-up was complete, Hux took a step back and twirled one of the batons in his hand, weighing the smooth wood in his hand as he did so. He had grabbed the first pair he could find and the little notch in the leather of the handle had been barely noticeable then, but the sensitive skin on the tip of his right index finger felt it all the more.</p><p>             No time to adjust the baton now though. Voya, almost as tall as himself with light blond hair and brown eyes sitting in a wide face, took a small step to the side. His usual tell and Hux was prepared to catch the overhead strike and aim for Voya’s torso next second with the baton in his other hand. This too wouldn’t have happened with Phasma. Phasma had been more adept. More in control of her facial expressions. With her one twitch of the lower lip did not signal to him that his opponent would expose their chest within three more strikes.</p><p>             They circled each other and Hux didn’t stop staring at Voya for even a second. He was calm. As calm as he could be.</p><p>             His sparring partner took the first step towards him, striking for Hux’s side, but he knew the feint. Voya had used it during their previous session and had managed to hit him. Not so today. Today, the hit and subsequent twirl ended their short fight. He knew exactly when Voya would strike and Hux caught the baton, pushed it away and when Voya struggled for balance for just a moment, Hux was able to place a perfect hit right against his shoulder, completely tipping Voya and making him come crashing down on the floor at Hux’s bare feet, Hux’s baton at his throat.</p><p>             Their sessions usually ended like this, though very seldomly as quickly.</p><p>             Slightly disappointed, he took a step back, wondering if going at it for another round with Voya was worth the trouble or whether he should use the rest of his allotted time in the gymnasium to improve on other skills.</p><p>             Slowly, Voya got to his feet and he picked up his baton. “Would you like to give it another go, Sir?”</p><p>             Hux’s eyes were still burning from tiredness. Not even this small workout was enough to wake him up properly and he’d already grudgingly taken a stim that morning. And being tired usually didn’t help when he tried not to think of something that might distract him from is work. Sparring, even sad, miserable sparring like this, kept his mind occupied for at least a few moments. It was better than nothing and infinitely better than cardio.</p><p>             He caught a movement on his left, at the small viewport in the door separating this small room in the gymnasium from the rest of the training area. The viewport was narrow, but it was still long enough to show him who was standing on the other side, dressed in a black training outfit exactly like Hux’s. “Never mind,” he said, looking at Voya only briefly. He would have to look for another sparring partner anyway. “Dismissed.”</p><p>             Voya didn’t betray any emotion, though Hux got the sense that he was more than displeased at Hux’s rebuffal, but no member of his crew would even dare show that openly. Instead, Voya saluted, placed his own batons in their holders, and headed for the door, which slid open for him to fully reveal Dameron standing in the doorway, flanked, as usual by his guard of Stormtroopers.</p><p>             Their eyes met and Hux twirled one of his batons in his hand once more. So Dameron had accepted this additional freedom of coming here once a day. Hux nodded briefly at him, but before the door could close on Dameron, the pilot took a step inside. “You’re good,” he said quietly, his dark eyes trained on the baton in Hux’s hand and then to his face. The dark circles under his eyes were proof of his lack of sleep.</p><p>             Had he received the news about the cadet yet?</p><p>             “Are you familiar with this?” Hux asked, taking a step back to make room for Dameron.</p><p>             “A bit,” Dameron said quietly, picking up the batons which Voya had left.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Another cliffhanger. Sorry, not sorry? Cliffhangers are usually a good way to pick up when I start on the next chapter and I have the first couple of sentences already written down.</p><p>I hope you're all okay and you don't resent me for the bad sparring scene. I can't promise that it will improve, since I feel I'm terrible at writing fights. The scene was inspired however by the wonderful sparring scenes in Stargate Atlantis. If there's one thing definitely worth watching about that show, even if you hate the overall tone of the Stargate franchise, it's Teyla Emmagan kicking other people's butts. (But seriously, I love that show to bits. Watch it if you like Sci-Fi. YOu can even watch Atlantis without knowing SG-1 first) *coughs*</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>Hux observed the way Dameron moved. It was different from Voya. His face, usually so very easy to read, became an unreadable mask, though his eyes still showed Hux that he was fully focused on what was happening. On how he was moving even before they had started. After Dameron had weighed the batons in his hands, however, and nodded approvingly, he and Hux started moving almost in sync, their bare feet tapping softly on the floor.</p><p>             Out of the corner of his eye Hux saw the Stormtroopers lingering in the doorway in front of which both their shoes were still standing, before turning their backs to them after a curt nod from Hux. One small motion that Voya would have exploited. Not Dameron, though. He waited until the door had closed and they were truly alone.</p><p>             “So,” he began, “what are the rules?”</p><p>             Hux nearly scoffed. “I thought you knew what we’re doing here.”</p><p>             “Yeah, but I figured the Order might have a different set of rules.”</p><p>             Raising an eyebrow, Hux took a step to the side and Dameron followed suit as they started circling each other. “For instance?”</p><p>             “I don’t know, but I guess you’d want your officers to remain intact mostly? So, no hitting any vital parts.”</p><p>             “That would be about it.” Hux could feel a smile tugging at his lips and he quickly shoved it away, burying it deep inside his chest. Smiles had no place here.</p><p>             He watched as Dameron stretched out his arms and Hux couldn’t help but notice the clearly defined muscles there. Dameron was wider than he was, the sleeveless shirt doing little to hide his upper body and Hux had to admit, he wouldn’t have thought a pilot in the Resistance would be this well-built. Pilots in the Order were usually chosen not only because of their quick reflexes, but also for theird slender frame that might make it easier for them to slip behind standardized consoles more easily. There was a reason, after all, why Ren had required a special TIE of his own… But Dameron was bigger than the average TIE pilot. He was bigger than Voya, too, which was bound to give him the advantage, but Hux might be faster. There was no telling whether that was true all the time, but they would have to see.</p><p>             Dameron narrowed his eyes for a moment as they took him in and he bit his lower lip. “Fine,” he said quietly. “One quick round.”</p><p>             He struck, the baton whizzing through the air, not too fast so Hux was able to deflect it quite easily, but with enough force so Hux could feel the power of the blow in his shoulders. So this was how it was going to go? Probably not. If playing dejarik with Dameron, and losing to him once, had taught him anything, it was that the man was not quite as predictable as he pretended to be. Or was Hux overestimating him?</p><p>             The next blow was aimed higher, executed with the left baton and Hux deflected that as well, his muscles tensing up when Dameron’s batons clashed with his again.</p><p>             They were testing each other, each strike nothing but a prod at the other’s defences and for the first time in his life Hux knew that he wasn’t doing this with someone from the Order. Dameron was trained in this. There was a grace to his well-rehearsed movements Hux hadn’t expected. An ease with which he moved about the room that made him more dangerous than any classical fighter Hux has sparred with yet.</p><p>             “Where did you train?” Hux found himself asking as he deflected an overhead blow and dodged the next one directed at his rib cage.</p><p>             “Home,” Dameron said.</p><p>Home… where was that again? Hux couldn’t recall and those dark eyes weren’t giving anything away but the slight terror that Hux might know. That he might know and exploit that against him. That was not necessary, however. Not yet. Probably not ever. Not as long as Dameron cooperated. But if fearing for his home helped without Hux downright threatening it, then so be it. Home… what a concept to have. The slight widening of Dameron’s eyes as he said it, as it only accentuated the circles under his eyes, made something in Hux’s chest ache, and he pushed that down too. And yet, he asked: “Where’s home?” He lunged, throwing his right baton at Dameron’s shoulder and realizing too late that Dameron had been waiting for something just like that. Dameron turned, side-stepping him easily and only at the last second did Hux manage to hold off the baton before it hit his side. Pushing up his own weapon he realized that his chest was exposed a fraction of a second too late and as Dameron swung the other baton at him, grazing Hux’s chest with the tip of it and he caught a whiff of musk of sweat.</p><p>“I thought you knew,“ he said. “Yavin 4.”</p><p>Hux nodded, twirling his baton to release some of the tension in his wrist.</p><p>“What about you?”</p><p>“Me?” Hux frowned at him, almost halting in his tracks. The bright light issuing from the walls made the fine film of sweat gleam on Dameron’s arms. How long had they been at it now? It was hard to keep track of time in these moments.</p><p>“Yeah… home. Where is that for you?”</p><p>“The Order,” Hux answered curtly, finding Dameron dropping the batons for a few seconds and yet Hux didn’t feel for a moment like using it to his advantage. There was no understanding in Dameron’s eyes. But no pity either. Nothing to infuriate Hux, no matter how much he wanted it to. So this was it. The one personal detail Dameron had coaxed from him and it was worthless.</p><p>And yet Dameron didn’t stop there. He raised his batons and resumed his stance. A stance that only accentuated how broad his shoulders were. He was, by no means as massive as Ren had been, but Hux didn’t fail to notice that, the more time passed, the more of his vision Dameron actually took up. “What? You were born on a ship?”</p><p>“No,” Hux hissed, his teeth clenched. Why was he even allowing this to happen? He struck out and once again Dameron caught his baton easily. So that was it… Hux increased his speed, hitting at every little opening in Dameron’s defence he could make out, eyes darting between Dameron’s face and the wooden sticks flying between them.</p><p>He paid for his rashness within twenty strikes when Dameron’s baton hit his upper arm, nearly making him drop his baton.</p><p>“You okay?”</p><p>“Let’s keep going,” Hux snarled, shaking off the sharp, biting pain and taking a step back.</p><p>Dameron’s brows were knit tightly together now and Hux caught him looking at the place where he’d hit him. The skin there must be flaming red and undoubtedly it would leave a mark. “So,” Dameron started again, a grin spreading over his face that seemed to battle the tiredness in his eyes. “Not a ship then… what planet? Coruscant?”</p><p>Hux rolled his shoulders, sensing that this might very likely dissolve into a guessing game that left him annoyed and even more open to making yet another mistake if he allowed it. “Arkanis,” he said and when Dameron opened his mouth again to say something else, he added: “And I take it sparring is a favoured past time on Yavin?”</p><p>Dameron’s laugh carried through the small room like a wave. “Skywalker’s first attempt at a Jedi school was there. Just for a few years before he moved it to a place nobody knew about. But one of his students stuck around. Didn’t feel like leaving that place. So a bit of sparring stuck around as well.”</p><p>And what exactly was Hux supposed to do with that information? It was useless. It offered next to no new facts about Dameron. Nothing he could use to further their cause. And yet he couldn’t help himself picturing a younger, scrawnier version in another gymnasium, circling someone else with this exact same gleaming in his eyes that made Hux’s throat go tight. He needed to end this. And quickly.</p><p>Dameron’s feet dragged slightly over the floor as they started moving again, making sure that his footing was on-point, while that smile still lingered on his face before he said: “And I trained with Rey a bit this past year.” Once more he crossed the distance between them, the batons flying in precise arches that felt so familiar Hux fell into a routine almost at once. “And with Finn of course.”</p><p>There it was. The opening he needed. He hit Dameron’s side once, hard and precise and when Dameron doubled over just a bit Hux slapped both batons out of Dameron’s temporarily slack hands and pushed him up against the wall, his own weapons crossed below Dameron’s throat. He was too close. He knew he was, but they were both panting by now. The fight was over. “You should not have switched to the style I’m most familiar with,” he breathed, on the verge of taking a step back, but he stood there, his eyes fixed on Dameron as the other’s breath whiffed over his face, pressing hot against his lips.</p><p>“Yeah, maybe,” Dameron said, all mirth gone from his face. His eyes narrowed as he returned his gaze. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity as his heart beat so fast he could almost hear it. His skin felt hot, his chest was so tight he found it hard to breathe the instant he realized that Dameron was breathing heavily as well. There was a faint blush on Dameron’s cheeks, making those eyes shine even brighter.</p><p>And then he felt it. Two warm hands on his sides. Not there to harm him, but steadying him, the thumbs grazing his stomach in a way that made Hux’s skin feel like it was on fire. The gentleness of the touch made his entire being feel like it was being crushed. Breathing became even harder as he sensed how tight his pants were from one second to the next.</p><p>He stood there, rooted to the spot as Dameron’s eyes slid down to his lips, making them quiver for just a moment before Hux pushed himself away from Dameron and forcing himself to take a deep breath. And still he was unable to avert his gaze from Dameron. Dameron, who followed him so they were still standing far too close to the narrow window in the door with the Stormtroopers outside. Hux felt exposed. Like this instant was going to ruin everything he’d built up… if they were seen. But also like he was already missing Dameron’s hands on him.</p><p>Swallowing hard, he turned away and put his two batons back into their holders.</p><p>“What?” Dameron panted, the sudden huskiness in his voice settling deep inside Hux before he knew what to do with it.</p><p>Hux pressed his lips together, taking a deep and yet imperceptible breath to steady his own voice and doing his best to ignore the fierce tension in his chest before he answered: “Have you taken a look at your datapad this morning?”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s how I knew I could come here.”</p><p>Hux nodded at the line-up of batons leaning against the wall as he looked up briefly at the Stormtroopers behind the door. They hadn’t turned around to look inside the room. The security cams were outside as well, providing at least some privacy for the people sparring. “Is that all you saw?”</p><p>“Yeah.” Dameron moved closer towards him, his arm almost touching Hux’s as he put down his batons as well. He was standing far too close to him.</p><p>Hux tried swallowing again, but all he felt was a dry something at the back of his throat. He turned his head to face Dameron again and when their eyes met, he felt his stomach twist again. “I have to show you something.” He knew his voice carried innuendo, he felt it even as his tongue released the words to hang in the air just as he felt his neck burning with Dameron’s stare.</p><p>What would he say?</p><p>How had they come here? Hadn’t he felt like slicing Dameron’s throat the previous day?</p><p>Dameron didn’t answer straight away. Instead, he tapped past Hux and stepped into his training shoes, his back turned to Hux. Again, Hux’s eyes lingered on the broad shoulders. On the smooth curve of them as they went over into his arms and he couldn’t help but notice the scar on the back of his right arm, inches above the elbow. “Fine,” Dameron said, his voice much more controlled than Hux’s had been, but when he turned to return his stare, Hux felt those eyes boring into his like a knife.</p><p>             He hurried to slip into his own shoes, thinking that he could always change where this was going. He<em> had</em> something to show Dameron after all. He could always pretend this wasn’t happening.</p><p>             Just seconds before Hux stepped towards the sliding doors, he felt Dameron’s fingertips brush over his arm and, just for the fraction of an inch, slide into his gloves, touching his wrist so lightly Hux felt the tingling sensation rush up his arm.</p><p>             His throat was so tight he wouldn’t trust his own voice.</p><p>             He was tired. That was it.</p><p>             And even if they went through with it, there would be little to regret. Dameron was still his prisoner. Yes, he was a valuable one, but that didn’t give Dameron power over him. Hux was the one in control, and Dameron better remember it.</p><p>             And yet, he felt the other’s warmth radiating around him as they crossed the gym, the Stormtroopers right behind them. Hux didn’t look left or right, but headed straight for the turbolift that would take him to his corridor. From there it would only be a few steps to his private quarters.</p><p>             Dameron wasn’t looking at him. He kept his hands in his pockets, eyes fixed on the door. He only turned around briefly when Mitaka passed by them to look at the Lieutenant. Hux merely acknowledged his aide’s presence with a brief nod before they entered the lift and Dameron’s arm was almost touching his again. The scent of sweat hung heavy on the air, making Hux’s heart beat even faster and only when they entered the corridor again and he felt some distance between himself and Dameron, did he feel like he could breathe a bit more calmly. No, he really should leave it be and focus on … what?</p><p>             He signalled for the Stormtroopers to wait before he held his wrist before the sensor, even more acutely aware of Dameron’s presence now that he was about to enter his private quarters with him.</p><p>             His stomach tightened the moment the doors slid open and Dameron didn’t take the first step into the room with the desk and the narrow sofa. Hux felt almost sure he would have done so had they entered his office. So it was up to him to enter the room first and now Dameron was moving again, so close behind Hux, he was almost sure he could feel his body heat and he was relieved to hear the tell-tale hiss when the doors closed again and they were alone.</p><p>             They were alone.</p><p>             He clenched his hands into fists, his heart beating far too fast. He should not be this nervous. He really shouldn’t be. This was nothing.  Nothing but a tired, stupid idea he’d better cast away right now.</p><p>             Dameron’s fingers were on his arm again, tracing the outside of it like the tip of a bantha hair brush, making him quiver already.</p><p>             “Hux…” Dameron began and Hux’s eyes flew to his narrow desk. To the datapad waiting for him there. He’d already sent his report to Pryde… Pryde who might comm in, who might even override his privacy settings.</p><p>             His throat was tight, but he couldn’t pull away. Not with his eyes burning like this and Dameron so close behind him, the other hand now gently tracing his hips. This was wrong… so wrong… but he couldn’t tell him to stop.</p><p>             Dameron pressed his palm against the place where he’d hit him, the warmth seeping into his skin and Hux was finally able to pull away. Not because of the touch, he told himself, but because the small light laid into the table started flashing red, signalling a new message had come in. Something he did not want to deal with right now. Not with Dameron right there behind him.</p><p>             Dameron’s hand slid from his arm and his hip, leaving behind a feeling of cool, purified air.</p><p>             “Not here,” Hux said curtly, turning right and heading over to the smaller room adjacent to the main area of his quarters. He hadn’t let anyone in here, or into any other of his former bedrooms in three years. Three whole years… had it really been that long? “Lights, thirty percent.”</p><p>             Dameron followed without hesitation, though he paused in the middle of the room, looking around and focusing on the viewscreen right next to the bed overlooking the ruins of the citadel. “Cozy…” he muttered, slowly turning around to face Hux again. He was smiling now, though there was something twitchy about him, his fingertips rubbing against each other until he found Hux staring.</p><p>             Staring… he was staring… at the arms that had drawn his attention first. The shoulders… Hux wasn’t entirely sure he felt comfortable acknowledging the face or the eyes.</p><p>             Dameron took a step towards him, crossing the distance between them easily. His breath was pressing against Hux’s lips again. Just like it had down in the gymnasium. “So we’re doing this?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. He wasn’t touching him. Not now. Not now they were truly alone. With no guards around to protect Hux. No defence but the small blaster hidden in the drawer of his night stand.</p><p>             “If you want…” Hux said quietly once he had found his voice again. Those eyes…. they were captivating. Dangerously so. How had he never acknowledged that before?</p><p>             “I guess I do,” Dameron bit his lip and put his hands on Hux hips again, his thumbs drawing circles across the fabric of his shirt, eyes fixed on Hux’s. There was something feverish in those eyes. Feverish and lustful in a way that nobody had ever looked at him, because there was no fear or hesitation. Not a trace of uncertainty. “We can just have fun… make the truce a real one.” And then his fingertips slid into the waistband of his training pants just for a brief moment before pushing up Hux’s shirt an inch.</p><p>             “Of course you’re talkative doing this as well,” Hux said, trying a snarl when his entire body seemed to be slowly turning into goo from Dameron’s touch alone.</p><p>             “Doing what?” Dameron asked, the fake innocence in his voice enough to make the heat rise to his face. “Fucking?” He leaned closer then, his lips so close to Hux’s now they almost touched. Almost. Not quite. The lingering smell of sweat mixed with something else Hux couldn’t quite put his finger on, but which made his legs feel weak and which was pressing in on him along with Dameron’s body.</p><p>             He felt it. The buldge pressing up against his own, nothing but a few layers of fabric between them as Dameron’s hands pushed up his shirt even higher, the thumbs stroking his nipples.</p><p>             Dameron hesitated, just for a moment, studying Hux’s face before turning his head and pressing his lips against Hux’s throat, his breath rolling against Hux’s skin in the same rhythm as Dameron’s hips grinding into his own in a pace so delicious and slow, Hux closed his eyes, his hands holding on tight to Dameron’s arm as he thanked the Force that Dameron hadn’t tried to kiss him again. The pressure was just right, the friction of the fabric against the head of his cock the exact stimulus he needed. It was perfect, really and Hux had the feeling that he could come just from this. It had been too long. Too long, since he’d felt another human being this close.</p><p>             No… no, that was wrong, this had never happened to him. Not this slowly. Not this softly. Nobody had ever traced his jaw with their lips, nobody had ever moaned like this into his ear, making him shiver in anticipation. He’d never felt like this and the way his gut twisted and writhed made him wonder how weak he really was.</p><p>             “Get to the bed,” Hux said, forcing his voice not to betray the yearning inside him. “Get rid of your clothes.”</p><p>             Dameron let out a low huff and didn’t let go of him immediately. His hands slid into the back of his pants, gently squeezing his buttocks, the sensation making Hux suppress a moan of his own. Low and pathetic. “So this is how it’s gonna go?”</p><p>             Hux merely raised his eyebrows at Dameron, fighting for breath already.</p><p>             “Fine,” Dameron shrugged, taking a step back from him, but not before he let his fingertips trail up his spine, evoking a shiver from Hux that made him grin. “Didn’t know you might like this.”</p><p>             <em>I don’t.</em> Hux was so close to saying it, but the words wouldn’t come. Not with the imprint of Dameron’s fingers still on his skin. Not with the lingering warmth they had left behind.</p><p>             He stood, mesmerized as Dameron took another step back so the backs of his knees were almost touching the foot of the bed. “So, you’re no big talker?” Dameron asked, grabbing his shirt by the collar and pulling it over his head.</p><p>             Hux felt his mouth water at the sight of the dark hair on his stomach trailing down into the soft pants, leading a clear path to the spot he could still almost feel against him. “No,” Hux said curtly, forcing himself to meet Dameron’s gaze again. A gaze he was familiar with. Impatient. Urging him to make his next move.</p><p>             He did, stripping off his own shirt and placing it neatly on the narrow dresser.</p><p>             Dameron’s shoes followed, then Hux’s and when Hux was on the verge of removing his gloves, Dameron shook his head. “Let me,” he breathed, his voice even huskier now as he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his pants and pulling them down, his erection springing free to press against the thin line of hair trailing down from his navel.</p><p>             He stretched out his hand to Hux. Invitingly. Not like he would throw him on the bed next second and get this over with as quickly as possible, and despite his initial instincts, Hux followed the invitation. The button on his left glove was already undone and when Dameron took Hux’s hand in his, his eyes started to burn from staring at those fingers gingerly plucking the leather glove off each and every one of his own before letting the glove fall onto the bed.</p><p>             The second glove followed soon afterwards and Dameron pressed his nose into the palm of his hand. Hux felt the traces of stubble against his fingertips, felt the heat of Dameron’s breath. The softness of his lips.</p><p>             “You smell really nice,” Dameron whispered as Hux watched him with a pounding heart, trying to ignore the warmth settling in his chest. “And I have to say I like it when you don’t insult me either. I was a bit nervous at first.” He laughed against Hux’s skin, then he held Hux’s palm against his own cheek. Dameron’s face was as warm as the rest of him, his smile so void of sarcasm Hux was at a loss. It was easier to prod at Dameron. To insult him.</p><p>             He couldn’t find it in him to do so now.</p><p>             Instead, he raised his other hand. Touching Dameron’s side the way Dameron had just touched him, and Dameron’s eyes fell shut, the lips still smiling as Hux’s hands trailed up his waist.</p><p>             It felt nice.</p><p>             How could another person’s warmth keep surprising you?</p><p>             What was this? What was this lack of demand? Was Dameron not interested after all?</p><p>             Dameron turned his face then, nuzzling the palm of Hux’s hand, his arms going around him, one hand pressing against his stomach, the other sliding into his hair, tugging at it ever so slightly. He was so close. So incredibly close again.</p><p>             Hux shook his head when he felt the other’s mouth brush up against his. “Get on the bed,” he said.</p><p>             “Right, General…” Still no sarcasm. But no trace of decorum or fear either. Somehow Hux didn’t find he minded that. Instead he watched as Dameron let go of him to sit on the bed, hands folded in his lap. “Now what?”</p><p>             “Turn over.”</p><p>             “You don’t like playing, do you?”</p><p>             “Not particularly, no.”</p><p>             “Do you mind that I do?”</p><p>             Hux wasn’t sure. He hesitated, his breath hitching when Dameron placed his hands on Hux’s hips again. He let it happen. Let Dameron pull down his pants and underwear in one sweep motion.  He found his hands touching Dameron’s and Dameron paused, looking up at Hux with hooded eyes.</p><p>             <em>A rebel</em>, Hux told himself. <em>I am about to have sex with a dirty rebel.</em></p><p>The only thing was, it hardly seemed to matter. Dameron was powerless and yet he, or whatever he might mean to the few other rebels in the galaxy, was valuable. And he’d shown loyalty. Maybe not to the Order, but to lives that needed to be protected. He had tried to do so himself. At least for this part of the long game that still lay ahead of them, Dameron was on his side.</p><p>             That ought to atone for anything that might happen here.</p><p>             He let his fingers slide down Dameron’s arms. They felt smooth. Smooth and silky. Just like he imagined his hair would. Hux slowly raised his one hand to push it through Dameron’s curls and immediately Dameron’s eyes fell closed, his lips forming a smile.</p><p>             Too far.</p><p>             This was going too far.</p><p>             And yet he couldn’t stop. He brushed his fingers through Dameron’s hair again, watching in fascination as Dameron’s lips parted in a half-suppressed sigh. Hux’s eyes were drown to the soft mouth. To the way the white teeth and the pink tongue showed.</p><p>             He tugged at Dameron’s hair, evoking a low, rumbling groan from Dameron that made Hux shiver.</p><p>             He wanted him… wanted him so badly then, it was hard not pushing him down there and then. His cock was painfully hard, Hux felt it already leaking against his stomach.</p><p>             Dameron blinked up at him then, a small smile tugging on his lips before his right hand slid over Hux’s cock with a pressure soft enough not to make him come there, but firm enough to draw a hitched breath from him. “You’re so ready, huh?” Dameron muttered, still smiling.</p><p>             Hux’s hand was still buried in his hair. He couldn’t find it in him to let go.</p><p>             And then Dameron did it again, his fingertips slowly moving up his shaft before closing around it, thumb slowly, deliciously circling his tip.</p><p>             Wide-eyed Hux stared down at him, the air in his lungs burning hot as he watched Dameron take his own cock into his hands, slowly moving up and down it as he bit his lip. Dameron’s eyes were still gleaming, the soft light making his face look less angular, his lips fuller somehow. For a moment Hux wondered what it might feel like to touch them instead and his fingers twitched almost involuntarily against Dameron’s scalp. “Yeah, alright,” Dameron sighed and he leaned back, letting go of Hux, but still looking up at him, his lips still slightly parted while Hux didn’t break eye contact for another minute.</p><p>             What a strange creature Dameron was that he almost missed his touch. <em>Do you remember what I told you</em>? he thought, taking care to formulate the question in his head and almost flinching away, when his lips let something else slip: “Do you remember what I asked of you?”</p><p>             Dameron was grinning now, though, for once, he didn’t give a clever remark. Instead he scootched up the bed and lay on his side, his butt clearly on display.</p><p>             Hux’s mouth was so dry, he was almost sure he could never swallow again as he took in Dameron. How had he not noticed this before? The softness of his body among the clearly defined muscles. The way his tan skin almost shimmered in the light and the way it looked flawless if you didn’t count the scars.</p><p>             Well, there was a reason their uniforms revealed so little.</p><p>             His legs felt like lead as he dragged himself over to his nightstand, abandoning his pants on the way there and leaving them lying on the floor. There was no time for that. And all the while he felt Dameron’s eyes on him, felt them follow him as he opened the drawer and took out the small tube he kept there just in case.</p><p>             And then Dameron turned around on his other side, his hips making his silhouette appear almost curvy. This was easier. Far easier to handle. As long as he didn’t have the distraction from those eyes or that suggestive trail or that throbbing, gorgeous cock.</p><p>             Hux slid onto the bed next to Dameron, his fingers already slick with lubricant as he circled Dameron’s anus, applying just enough pressure to let Dameron know what he was about to do. What he wasn’t prepared for was the gasp, or the hands dragging Hux’s other arm around him when Hux’s finger entered him, pushing in slowly as he started to stretch him.</p><p>             Dameron was breathing into the crook of his arm, trembling already when Hux inserted the second finger. “Should I stop?” Hux asked, short of breath himself by now, but Dameron shook his head, arching into him.</p><p>             “No, this is good.”</p><p>             “Are you sure?”</p><p>             “Yeah.”</p><p>             It was all the invitation he needed. He felt this feeling again. The tugging sensation in his groin, felt it rise the more Dameron squirmed in his arm, though now it was even more intense than he’d ever felt it, and when he slowly drove into Dameron, his cock stretching Dameron even  wider and Dameron moaned, throwing his head back against Hux’s shoulder, Hux wasn’t sure how long he might last.</p><p>             Shutting his eyes tight, he pressed his forehead against Dameron’s shoulder, picking up a rhythm that echoed their sparring, though it felt far less competitive now. He was gasping, and he quickly pressed his mouth against Dameron’s shoulder, inhaling his scent and suppressing another moan. Dameron seemed to swallow him whole. To envelop him with his tightness and his heat even as they lay there on the side, Hux diving deep into Dameron with every thrust until, Dameron’s legs started to shake and Hux turned him over so Dameron was lying on his stomach, Hux on top of him.</p><p>             It was easier then, Dameron’s loud moans muffled by the sheets, his fingers digging into the pillow.</p><p>             And yet, Hux was almost sure he heard Dameron whisper his name as he came.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This was a long one. A really long one. I wrote over 4k today and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it and exploring their dynamics.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chapter 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>Hux’s whole body weight was pushing him down, his cock still buried deep and comfortably inside him. No longer hard, but still a welcome feeling. The arm around him was so wonderfully warm Poe almost felt like he could forget where he was and whose bed he was in. Almost.</p><p>             Not quite.</p><p>             Poe kept his eyes closed, his hands stroking the cool sheets as he focused his entire being on the comfortable weight and the hot breath lingering on his skin. This would be over soon, and then it would be time for him to get back to his cell.</p><p>             Swallowing hard, he pressed his face into the thin pillow muffling the low moan when Hux withdrew and knelt behind him, his body heat replaced immediately by the cool air of the room, bringing out goosebumps on his skin.</p><p>             Blinking, Poe turned his head when Hux shifted, moving over to the side of the bed to get up. The entire bedroom was a bit smaller than Poe’s cell. Somehow Poe had expected more. More lavish surroundings for the commander of a ship this size. Maybe even a pet lurking in a corner somewhere. As it was, the surroundings felt empty and cool. Like a good, but cheap hotel in the Core. And now Hux was ready to get up. Almost out of reflex, Poe reached for Hux’s wrist. The skin was so soft beneath his fingertips and when Hux looked down at him, Poe was almost sure Hux would pull away.</p><p>             He didn’t. Not straight away. Those green eyes weren’t as soft as the skin, but there was nothing harsh about them. Hux’s jaw tightened, but he settled back down on the mattress anyway. Still sitting, but there. Without saying a word, he extracted his hand from Poe’s grasp and folded his hands in his lap. What was this then? His shoulders sagged forward, his eyes fixed on the long hands. Poe could have almost thought Hux was ashamed.</p><p>             Frowning, Poe turned on his side, his head propped up on his elbow. His eyes were burning with fatigue, but he knew sleep wasn’t in the cards just now. He stretched out his free hand and placed it on Hux’s leg. The guy was just as thin as he had expected him to be, but there was a certain wiry quality about him. The muscles in his arms and shoulders were clearly defined even now and the way he was able to move… Poe had never expected this stiff son of a bitch to be able to be this fast and precise.</p><p>             Hux didn’t flinch away, but he looked at Poe’s hand on his leg as though surprised Poe would touch him. He’d looked almost as stunned a few minutes ago before he’d assumed control of the situation. “What’s up?” Poe asked, his voice husky. Had he gone too far after all? “Was this no fun for you?”</p><p>             He watched Hux’s face turn into a scowl, watched as the mouth turned down and the eyebrows were drawn together in a frown, but still Hux didn’t pull away.</p><p>             “D’you want me to go?” Poe asked, never taking his eyes from Hux and wondering why the hell he would want to stay anyway. But he did, and he didn’t dare to think about why.</p><p>             Hux was still frowning at Poe’s hand, clearly thinking hard and Poe felt the next words trying to make their way out. <em>You know what, I don’t have to take this.</em> But he had the feeling that he did. That if he made the wrong move now, their tentative alliance, or whatever it was between them, was in jeopardy. Maybe this had been a huge mistake after all. Well, there was no going back from it now.</p><p>But as he lay there, looking at Hux, he also couldn’t help but think that it’d been nice, even if he’d had to pull Hux’s arm around him. And Hux didn’t seem too repulsed either. Not even now, as he sat there without really meeting his gaze. What the hell was wrong with these Order people that they had to mull over every single word?</p><p>Or was it just Hux?</p><p>“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Hux said and Poe realized this was as honest an invitation as he was going to get.</p><p>“Okay,” he sat up then, wondering why he didn’t sense that this sick little power dynamic between them had tipped even more in Hux’s favour at this. Why Hux, who was so focused on work and setting himself and his people up for the win, wasn’t gloating or even quietly dismissing him. Why he wasn’t sending him away. Was this another try to manipulate him?</p><p>Poe pulled his left leg close to his chest and held it tight with his arm while never letting go of Hux’s knee. He moved his thumb, gently rubbing his skin and still Hux didn’t slap his hand away.</p><p>Slowly, Poe shifted closer, pushing his right hand up Hux’s leg and deciding that he needed to ask again, but maybe in a different phrasing. “Was this good for you, then?” he asked, wondering if, maybe, after all Hux hadn’t enjoyed himself. If he’d done something wrong. He watched Hux’s Adam’s apple bop up and down and for a second he wanted to press his lips against the sensitive skin there, the feel the low hum of Hux’s voice against his lips…</p><p>Hux… this here was Hux. Poe was almost sure he didn’t know the extent of what this man was capable of yet, and still he couldn’t let this go.</p><p>“Yes,” Hux said curtly, reaching up to push his hair back and Poe watched him with an almost sad smile. He liked Hux’s hair better when it was not slicked back. When there was some more volume to it. When it was tousled. Just like it was. “Yes, this was pleasurable.”</p><p>Poe laughed softly. He couldn’t help it, because again these words were not a dismissal, but something else. What then? An admission? “For me too, by the way…” Poe cleared his throat and shifted again so he was sitting next to Hux. Hux… the guy who played dejarik like a true master. Who appeared to be respected by his subordinates. Who cared about them. Who had turned spy to end Kylo Ren. It wasn’t all bad, Poe told himself, maybe just to make himself feel better. He rested his forehead against Hux’s arm and immediately he felt Hux’s shoulders tense up, making Poe’s heart sink. “Alright, I’m going.” </p><p>He sat up, but before he could pull his hand away, Hux had taken his wrist, the slender fingers pressing into his skin.</p><p>“What? You know, if you don’t like it when I touch you, I’m not gonna stay.”</p><p>“No.” Hux said curtly, turning to face him, the golden eyelashes almost transparent even in this dim light. “No, it’s not that.” There was only a trace of a frown left on his brow now and Poe had to resist the urge to try and make the wrinkle between his eyebrows away with his thumb. “I’m not used to this.”</p><p>“What?” Poe asked, cocking his head. “You were pretty good.” He looked down Hux, finding himself smiling when he laid eyes on the now soft cock lying against Hux’s thigh. Long and lean like the rest of him. His mouth watered just looking at it, but he quickly returned his gaze to Hux’s face. That was safer. Although… maybe not. Hux’s breath on his skin was exhilarating. Damn those endorphins.</p><p>Hux raised one of his eyebrows and nearly flinched when their eyes met again, quickly turning to look at the floor. “It is not usual for people to linger.”</p><p>“Ah…” Now, that made more sense. “You guys like to keep this sort of thing professional in the Order? Strictly businesslike?” He found himself grinning.</p><p>Hux’s scoff was enough of an answer. “That makes me sound like…” he broke off and Poe watched in fascination as Hux’s cheeks took on a light pink sheen. “Like some sex worked on Cantonica.”</p><p>Chuckling, Poe put Hux’s hand on his stomach, watching his jaw tighten and then start to relax with a long exhale. Like he needed to adjust. This was so weird. Poe was not used to this. To people needing time to allow him to touch them. Not like this. Not when they appeared to enjoy his touches otherwise. Or was he reading the signs wrong? Was he imagining Hux slowly starting to lean into the touch? “Well, I didn’t mean it like that. Although… if you guys were a bunch of prostitutes it would’ve been far easier to invade the galaxy. You know, more surreptitiously.” He moved in closer again, stretching out his leg behind Hux. And again Hux slowly allowed himself to lean into the touch just a bit. No, this was happening. Hux liked it.</p><p>Poe let his eyes wander down Hux’s back. Smooth, with the shoulder blades and the spine clearly defined and damn it, that butt was glorious. What a shame he kept hiding it in that uniform. The training pants also had done a pretty good job at hiding it. Swallowing hard, he put his chin on Hux’s shoulder and let his hand wander of Hux’s chest. “What? Not even a smile for that?”</p><p>“Your sense of humour is not exactly amusing.”</p><p>“No, I’m funny.”</p><p>“On what planet? Tatooine?”</p><p>“Fine,” Poe said quietly, finding Hux starting to lean into his touch a bit more and something in his chest seemed to expand at this. “I swear I’ll make you laugh.”</p><p>“I highly doubt it.”</p><p>“Hugs, did you even for a second think we’d end up in bed together when this started?” How long had it been? A week? More? Poe wasn’t even sure anymore. He closed his eyes for a moment, pushing down the pain that made him do this. That had made him yearn for someone and finding his attention drawn to Hux the second he’d seen him sparring in that gym. The moment he started wishing to escape even for a few moments appeared worth it at first. Now he wasn’t so sure anymore, but he had to admit just the warmth of another body was comforting… and Hux, Poe had to admit it, was a gorgeous person. And who would ever know?</p><p>“I certainly felt like pushing you up against a few walls,” Hux said quietly, drawing a grin from Poe. So <em>Hux</em> could be funny.</p><p>“Not of stabbing me?”</p><p>“No, of pushing you up against a wall and stabbing you. That would have been nice.”</p><p>Poe’s grin grew even wider, even though he knew those words to be perfectly true. He would have shot Hux the first chance he got, if only it could have given him the chance of escaping. Would he do that now? Could he? He felt the smile leaving his face as he watched Hux’s unmoving face. What strange creatures they were. Both of them trapped here with only one way moving forward. Not that Poe intended on helping the Order spread their sick propaganda, but the enemy was still the same. The Order’s High Command was the main obstacle at this point and it would be damn near impossible for him alone to defeat them. He knew it, and he knew Hux felt the same, or he would never have allowed Poe to be this close to him. “We’re in a bit of a dilemma aren’t we?”</p><p>“You could say that.”</p><p>“Might as well enjoy ourselves while being stuck?”</p><p>Hux’s upper lip twitched up in the beginning of a sneer, but then those green eyes turned to him again. They widened for the fraction of a second, making the green in them stand out even more and the sudden stab in his chest made Poe want to pull away, but instead his gaze was drawn to the lips. Lips that were lush and full and so close.</p><p>“You mean you want this to happen again?”</p><p>“I suppose there are a couple of things I can imagine us doing, Hux… I mean, we’re stuck here anyway and this <em>is</em> more fun than dejarik.”</p><p>“That’s what you think.”</p><p>“Gee, thanks, Hugs.” Poe grinned. “I’d like to change your mind about that.” He trailed his hand up Hux’s spine, feeling the shudder that ran up his body. Hux’s shoulders were bony under his touch, but once again Hux didn’t pull away when Poe put his arm around them. He just sat there. Letting it happen. As though he really wasn’t used to this. <em>It is not usual for people to linger.</em> What did that mean? Was it a First Order thing? Or a Hux thing?</p><p>Hux licked his lips and the sight was enough for Poe to make his throat go tight. This man was truly beautiful. There was no other word for it. Especially when that frown was gone. He took a short breath, but then closed his mouth again as his eyes darted across Poe’s face. “Is that a good idea?”</p><p>“Well, we’re here anyway… and… we either keep going, or forget it ever happened. Up to you.” He ran his fingertips along the line of Hux’s hair. Soft and silky. And such a beautiful colour. For a moment he wondered how it smelled… or how it might feel against his thighs.</p><p>Once again Hux didn’t answer, but his eyes fell shut the second Poe brushed his hand through the copper hair. He sighed, leaning into the touch and his eyes flew open the next second.</p><p>“No, this is just gonna remain between the two of us,” Poe said and his skin seemed to erupt in flames the second Hux put his hand around his waist. It felt clumsy. Far too light, but there it was. “I mean, I don’t have anywhere to be right now.”</p><p>There it was. That smile on Hux’s lips. Just a small one, but it brightened up his face instantly. Hux’s free hand travelled up Poe’s chest. “Is this alright?”</p><p>Poe nodded, his mouth dry and he did his best not to close his eyes. To keep looking at Hux. “Sure,” he breathed, his eyes drifting to Hux’s lips again. “I’d like to kiss you.”</p><p>“That would be going a bit far,” Hux said, his voice assuming a neutral tone. And then he laughed. A sound so short and sweet, Poe had to join in. The laughter bubbled up in his chest and broke free in a burst. His mind seemed to fog up for a moment and only when he realized that Hux had fallen quiet again, did he manage to get a grip on himself. Shaking his head, he lay on his back, looking up at Hux, the grin still plastered on his face. Hux was only smiling down at him. He’d been serious. What a damaged soul, Poe thought, feeling pity well up in his chest. A sentiment that Hux sure as hell wouldn’t accept or appreciate. He might be a pompous bastard at times, but he was also very protective of himself. Guarding his feelings, no matter of what nature they might be. “Come here,” Poe said, the smile vanishing from his own lips. “No kissing. I swear…”</p><p>“I’m tired.”</p><p>Was this another attempt to get him out of here? But why the hell wouldn’t Hux send him away then? He was certainly open enough about other things. He nodded. “Me too,” he said, feeling the weight of his own limbs. “I can leave. No hard feelings.” As he said it, he felt the cold in his chest. The remote fear of being alone again. Alone with his grief and the terror of the previous day.</p><p>Hux swallowed hard and he wiped a hand over his eyes. Was this really the same man who had beaten his sorry ass not even an hour ago? “Dameron…” It was the first time he’d said his name in a while. And there was no venom in his voice. No hatred. “What the kriff is this?”</p><p>Poe raised his eyebrows, letting the words sink in. Yes, what was it. He reached up to Hux and pulled him back down on the mattress. There was no resistance. No more tensing up. Just a body sagging down next to his, the skin slowly growing cold. Shaking his head, Poe sat up and manage to tug the blanket out from under them and put it over them. Hux was shivering slightly. “Let’s just get some sleep, huh? I get the feeling you didn’t sleep much either.” He looked down at Hux who was lying on his side now, looking at the opposite wall. “You know, back in the day I found a story in one of my mom’s old books.”</p><p>Hux’s eyes darted up at him, narrowing slightly in confusion. He seemed on the verge of saying something, but Poe shook his head.</p><p>             “No, not a bedtime story. But apparently, before Alderaan became a member of the Republic and before it was united under one government, the rulers of different nations would share a bed to strengthen their alliance.”</p><p>             “Ridiculous,” Hux muttered. “What a silly story. They were clearly having intercourse and masking it as a political procedure.”</p><p>             “Obviously,” Poe said and he couldn’t help but grin as he lay down next to Hux. Already the thin blanket was doing it’s job of trapping their body heat. He moved in closer behind Hux and snug his arm around him, closing his eyes when he felt that stabbing pain in his chest again. <em>Just a body,</em> he told himself as he pressed his forehead against Hux’s neck. His crotch fit perfectly against that butt. <em>Just take what you can get here.</em> His heart missed a beat when he felt slender fingers on his arm, tentatively sliding down his forearm and resting on his hand. Hux was touching him. Not looking at him, but touching him. He felt Hux take a shuddering breath.</p><p>             “I am so tired.”</p><p>             “Me too,” Poe muttered, his eyes tightly shut, feeling the tears starting to well up. He couldn’t do this… he couldn’t start crying. Not now. And yet he still felt two hot tears slide down his cheek as he shifted closer to Hux to catch more of his warmth.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, I was meaning to work on "The Beauty Underneath" today and yesterday, but I wasn't feeling it due to some pretty nasty news I received yesterday. I may be able to put in some work for that tomorrow, but at least I managed to pull this off. It turned out a bit differently than I'd planned originally, but I think the way this chapter turned out fits much better with what I set up in the previous chapters. Let me know your thoughts ;)</p>
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<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Chapter 18</h2></a>
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</p><p>The moment Poe woke up he knew what had happened. That he and Hux had reached an agreement. That that agreement had nothing to with why he was here now… or rather, that it had very little to do with why he was here. Why he felt his body comfortably aching. Why he was warm for the first time in weeks despite it all.</p><p>             He was lying on his side, his cheek nestled against a bony hip beneath warm skin that smelled almost intoxicating, his arm draped around another person. He hadn’t slept like this in months. Not since that short fling with Beaumont Kin. Beaumont Kin, who was now dead and wouldn’t be able to give anyone warmth anymore.</p><p>             Swallowing hard, Poe forced himself not to move while trying to ignore who this was sitting up in bed next to him.</p><p>             And then he felt something else. A shifting of an arm. Tentative fingers touching the top of his head and starting to brush through his hair. Usually a sure way to either make him go nuts, or calm down. At this precise moment he felt that if Hux kept going like this for a few more minutes, he would simply fall asleep again.</p><p>             Hux…</p><p>             Hux was doing this.</p><p>             Stroking his hair.</p><p>             Letting Poe touch him.</p><p>             Why? Was he enjoying this new role? This change of pace from their usual game in which Poe was not an opponent in a game of dejarik, but a pet? And how would he react if Poe sat up quickly now?</p><p>             What was this? The sex had been good enough, but the way Hux slowly started leaning into him before drifting off into a dreamless stupor and the way he was touching him now felt more intimate somehow and after a few hours of sleep Poe didn’t even know how he felt about that anymore.</p><p>             <em>Hux, what the kriff is this?</em></p><p>             The hand brushing over his scalp froze and he felt the muscles beneath his cheek tighten. “You’re awake.”</p><p>             “Yeah,” Poe said. “So are you.” And Hux wasn’t naked anymore. He had put on this training pants again. Soft, black fabric beneath clean white sheets. Had Hux exchanged those as well? And never even bothered to wake up Poe? “How long was I out?”</p><p>             Slowly, the fingers disentangled themselves from his hair, leaving him wondering how much longer Hux would have continued this otherwise. “Several hours,” Hux said. “The sleep cycle will start in two hours.”</p><p>             Kriff, that was long. He sat up carefully and wiped his eyes. He didn’t feel like he’d slept hours upon hours, although one look out the narrow viewscreen next to the mattress told him that the sun had indeed set already. Clouds were covering up the wreckage below, the static in them not even nearly enough to illuminate the remnants of the citadel.</p><p>He looked at Hux then. Hux, who looked indeed more refreshed. Whose hair wasn’t slicked back, but which lay gently against his head and whose eyes showed no aversion. This must be the most relaxed he had ever seen Hux. “How long have you been up?” Poe asked, looking down at the datapad in Hux’s lap. He caught only a few words. Notes from the infirmary?</p><p>             “Two hours,” Hux answered promptly, leaning back against the wall.</p><p>             Two hours and he hadn’t even thought of waking him up. Instead, he’d used the fresher, changed the blanket and come back to bed to let Poe sleep next to him as he worked. He didn’t have to do that.</p><p>             “Why’d you let me sleep that long?”</p><p>             <em>I’m so tired.</em> That was what Hux had said.  Just a few words that were more of an admission than Poe had realized then. To Hux they must be an admission of weakness. Of giving up more of himself than he let on.</p><p>             Hux lowered his eyes and pursed his lips as he mulled over the words. Despite everything Poe felt like touching him again. Touching his cheek. Anything to catch some more of that vulnerability he’d spotted there before. It was so much easier to take than other things he’d said. Easier than him boasting how he had <em>taken care</em> of his parents. “Do you mind?” Hux asked, his voice carefully controlled again, but he wouldn’t look up. Instead, he turned on his datapad again.</p><p>             “No?” Poe cleared his throat. “Would you mind looking at me?”</p><p>             Hux’s hand hovered over the glass screen and for a brief moment, Poe admired the delicate fingers before Hux’s eyes moved up again.</p><p>             “So, what is this?”</p><p>             “You labelled it <em>having fun</em>, I believe?” Hux said with a soft frown that creased his nose. Poe hadn’t seen that yet, and he fought down a smile. “And then you mumbled some nonsense about political alliances? Really, it was quite ludicrous.”</p><p>             “So we’re not having fun, then?” Poe prompted, sitting back again and he watched as Hux eyes quickly darted to his lap as though on queue. “And, yes, I’m aware that you have more power in this situation we’re in. I get that, but I’m still wondering what you get out of me staying afterwards.”</p><p>             He watched as Hux swallowed visibly before slowly looking up again. “Why do you want to know?”</p><p>             “I like to know where I’m at. I guess you don’t much like playing with open cards?”</p><p>             The answer came promptly and without a trace of regret. “No,” he said. “No, I do not. Because people can’t be trusted.”</p><p>             Now, that either meant that Hux had lied to him every single step of their way here, or that he didn’t believe it himself. Poe cocked his head, trying to read in Hux’s face. But there was very little there. The slight frown suggested that he was still thinking hard, the way his lips were a bit thinner than usual that he was uncomfortable, but not so uncomfortable as to tense up in the shoulders. “Fine,” Poe sighed. “You don’t have to trust me, I’d just like to know if this is just sex or sex and …” he paused, fishing for words. Hux’s right eyebrow slowly travelled up his forehead, making finding the right ones damn near impossible, “talking. I’m okay with both, but I prefer knowing.”</p><p>“Well, we’re talking, aren’t we?”</p><p>Poe wiped his sweaty hands on the sheet. He hated this. Hated being this nervous. Hated not being on equal footing right now. “Right,” he admitted. “Sex and talking.” Which meant that sex in future wasn’t off the table. And neither was… talking. Not that he expected Hux to open up completely, he doubted the man could even do that, but it was something. Like the glimpse of the man he’d caught in the mines. Of the tears on Hux’s face and the sensation of Hux leaning into his touch. “So, what are you up to with the Order then?”</p><p> </p><p>The question was met with silence. Silence and a frown that made Hux’s eyes look cool and distant.</p><p>“Listen, Hux, you either trust <em>me</em> with this plan of yours, or I’m gonna blow it.” Hux’s face started to turn into a proper sneer, but before he could begin expressing his displeasure, Poe quickly added: “Because, like I said, I prefer knowing where I’m at and I prefer being straightforward. I’m not a strategist like you.”</p><p>             “Two things,” Hux said, sitting up a bit more and raising two of his long fingers. When had he started actually gesturing like this, “One, you beat me once at dejarik, and I find it very hard to read you sometimes. You held the rank of commander in the New Republic’s navy and then as general in the Resistance. You might be a gambler, but you <em>are</em> aware of strategies.” he dropped one of his fingers and leaned in a bit closer, “Two, I have not formed a plan yet.”</p><p>             “You haven’t?”</p><p>             “No,” Hux muttered, sounding displeased and he leaned back. “But what I can tell you, going back to previous question, is that I find your company far less irritating now than I did at first.”</p><p>             “Oh, Hugs, I’m flattered.”</p><p>             Once again, Hux didn’t answer at first, but he didn’t stop looking at Poe either as he leaned against the wall, the back of his head resting against the wall. His throat, Poe noticed now, was longer that he’d have expected. That damn uniform did a perfect job at hiding that too. Why the heck did he have to be so damn beautiful? “Don’t call me that.”</p><p>             “What? Hugs?”</p><p>             Hux’s expression remained unmoved as he looked at Poe from beneath his eyelids. Whatever he said, he didn’t look entirely rested. But maybe that was just part of the deal. Poe himself didn’t feel like he’d even come close to having a day off in years. Well… and most of it had been because of the Order. Because of this man sitting right here.</p><p>             “I just think it’s cute.”</p><p>             No response either. So the trace of a sense of humour was gone, too.</p><p>             Poe almost felt disappointment settle in the pit of his stomach. He sat back on his heel, hands on his legs. “Don’t like to be called cute, huh?”</p><p>             The frown deepened, but still Hux didn’t respond. Not in words. Instead, he stretched out a hand and put it on Poe’s leg, his fingers almost hesitant as he stroked him there. Where had the boldness of the last few hours gone? Had they just dissolved? Or was him staying here actually what was making Hux nervous?</p><p>             <em>I’m not used to this.</em></p><p>             The words had hit Poe hard when they had been uttered first, but the true impact was only now starting to weigh on him and the realization almost made him want to lean in, to kiss Hux and show him that these things mattered. That it was okay to accept them from another person. Just knowing that Hux had most likely never had someone sleep in his bed was downright heart-breaking. Tentatively Poe put his hand on Hux’s, letting his fingertips explore the shape of the fingers. “What do you think the guys outside your door are thinking by now?”</p><p>             “Why do you care?” There was no mockery in Hux’s voice. Just real curiosity. “They obey orders. They are not supposed to think about them.”</p><p>             “Yeah, but we both know that they do… and for all they know I could have killed you by now.”</p><p>             “Hardly,” Hux said, turning his right hand over to expose the delicate wrist. Of course. That damn chip in there.</p><p>             “Don’t you find these creepy?” Poe asked, now taking Hux’s hand into his and holding the wrist up to inspect the place where the chip must be hidden. Right there. Over his pulse point? Poe pressed his palm over it, wondering if he might feel the edges of it. Probably not.</p><p>             “Why? We were able to locate most of the cadets with these.”</p><p>             Most of the cadets. Poe watched the goosebumps erupt on his skin and suppressed a shudder. What a trade. What a price to pay for the remote chance of getting found after being buried alive. “How many died?”</p><p>             Hux balled his hand into a fist, but he didn’t pull back. “Ten casualties all in all,” he answered quietly. “That was why I asked you if you’d checked your datapad earlier. The cadet we pulled out died an hour after she was brought in.”</p><p>             Poe acted instinctively, clutching Hux’s hand into his and pulling it to his lips. He felt the tension in Hux’s body melt into his own, but he kept those knuckles pressed firmly to his mouth anyway. To feel something. Warmth and skin and living flesh. “She looked okay,” he muttered a moment and only when he was entirely sure that his voice wasn’t trembling anymore. This sort of thing happened all the time, he told himself. People died. Even young people died. And this thing had been nobody’s fault. Nobody’s but that of the people who had put her to work down there. “She…”</p><p>             “Yes, well…” There was a gravity in Hux’s voice, one on the verge of echoing his own grief, that almost broke him. That made him want to feel those fingers brush through his hair again. He wanted it. Wanted it so desperately he even swallowed down a comment about how badly this cheap work force would be missed. Because that wasn’t the truth. Not the whole truth anyway. “I had a halt put on those excavations until such a time that we can ensure the safe mining of the caves. The official report says these people died as they were securing the ruins beneath the citadel. It is just as likely… the planet’s surface is becoming more unstable every day. If I didn’t know any better I would say Ren’s spirit has taken possession of it.”</p><p>             The mirthless smile on Hux’s lips was disconcerting to say the least, but Poe still found himself returning the smile. One smile, even a mirthless one, was enough for now. “Macabre.”</p><p>             “I hear you,” Hux said quietly. “Does this… talk… count as <em>strengthening the alliance</em>, or whatever you might want to call it?”</p><p>             Poe nodded. “Sure.” And then he said something he wouldn’t have considered saying before he’d seen Hux in the gym. “I didn’t sleep at all last night, thinking about that cave-in.”</p><p>             “Neither did I.” Hux put the datapad on the narrow nightstand beside his bed and Poe got the feeling that he did it to avoid looking at Poe. “I had a lot of work to do.”</p><p>             “Sure,” Poe said again, cocking his head. What might it be like not to be used to this. Not that <em>this</em> was the kind of pillow talk <em>he </em>was used to, but nothing about this situation was familiar. And did Hux want to talk about their situation? Or about the Order? Poe wasn’t sure. “How long do I have?” How long until Hux would ask him to help with that strategy he didn’t even have yet?</p><p>             “A few more days? A week?” Hux pulled a face, but Poe had to admire him for holding his gaze now. “Pryde is demanding a talk with me tomorrow.” He passed his hand over his face.</p><p>             Pryde… that name again. “He’s one of the old guys?”</p><p>             That brought on another smile from Hux. “In literally every way.”</p><p>             Salty. That wasn’t bad. Poe nodded appreciatively. “Dangerous?”</p><p>             “Powerful. So, yes.”  Hux’s jaw tightened at these words and he leaned forward so their faces were closer. “He does not appreciate the freedoms I’ve granted you.”</p><p>             “Freedoms…” Poe nodded once. “That’s big talk, considering you’re allowing me to go to the gym and to the mess. I take it he’d rather I rot in one of those interrogation chairs until I give in and not spend all my free time in your bed?”</p><p>             “You could say that.” Letting out a long breath, Hux let a tentative hand wander up Poe’s leg and he actually moved in a bit more closer to wrap his arm around Poe’s waist so their chests were almost touching. “I guess he’s more displeased about full access to the holo net.”</p><p>             “What?” Poe’s throat was tight at the sudden proximity and the wonderfully warm breath hitting his lips and the other hand sliding over his chest. It was almost enough to wipe his mind clean of all thought. How did Hux have this effect on him?</p><p>             “You didn’t see?”</p><p>             “No?” Poe swallowed hard and slowly traced Hux’s bicep with his fingertips. “You did that?”</p><p>             “So?” Hux’s hand wandered into his hair, tugging at it slightly, making an icy shower run down his spine. Access to more than just First Order propaganda. That was huge… and yet Poe still didn’t want to get up to check that what Hux had said was true. “It was just a few simple commands.”</p><p>             Poe shuddered again despite the warmth seeping into his skin and starting to pool in the pit of his stomach. He let out a long breath and started leaning in until his lips were only millimetres away from Hux’s, watching Hux freeze. No… no Hux didn’t want this. He turned his face and traced Hux’s jaw instead. He closed his eyes pressing his lips against Hux’s throat. He wanted to know. He needed to know it all. But not right now. Even if his stomach was growling. Even if there were more important things to think about right now.</p><p>             The arms around him tightened for a moment before Hux pulled back, staring at Poe with unblinking eyes. “Why do you even want to stay?”</p><p>             Poe froze. Shouldn’t he be the one to ask this? He opened his mouth again, ready to ask this one question, when the extent of is hit him. His eyes wandered over the face that had become so familiar in the few expressions it showed. He swallowed hard, thinking of how <em>he</em> had thought Hux might think of him of nothing like a pet… and now this… Poe bit his lip and shook his head, wondering how to phrase this. This attraction that shouldn’t be there. This utter need to touch Hux. Because, damn it, he had no idea where it had come from all of a sudden. He was on the verge of saying something along the lines of a joke, a dismissal, when he realized that Hux’s trust, or whatever this tentative bond between them was, would evaporate if he quipped about that right now. So, instead, he put his hand on Hux’s cheek and let his thumb travel the path his lips weren’t allowed to. “I don’t know, but I do…” He shrugged, holding those green eyes and trying to ignore the wonderful pain starting to spread through his chest. This was no use. This was no good. It was nothing but the afterglow, he told himself stubbornly. It had nothing to do with him depending on Hux, or with the rare display of emotion Hux was showing. And Poe was no actor. He was not a strategist like Hux, whatever flattery Hux might throw his way. “I’m tired and exhausted, and I’m damn sure you know I’m scared and I doubt any of that helps, but I think you’re hot. And sometimes you can be downright nice and close to an actual human being. <em>That</em> helps.”</p><p>             Hux’s lips trembled at these words. As though on the verge of kissing his thumb. But all Hux did, was let Poe trace his mouth once more before closing his eyes and letting out a long breath. Almost a sigh of relief. “You clearly don’t know me.”</p><p>             “No, I don’t,” Poe said matter-of-factly. But he did know that there were two people who called themselves Hux. And one of them certainly wasn’t sitting opposite him right now. He’d been left wherever that damn uniform was now and wouldn’t emerge again for as long as they were together like this. And Poe could live with that. “Lie down, okay?” He cleared his throat. “Please?”</p><p>             Hux’s trembling hand reached up to touch Poe’s. “Dameron…”</p><p>             “Come on… I’m gonna stop if you want me to.” He doubted Hux would, though. And he didn’t. He grabbed Poe’s hand tight, and let Poe guide him to lie on his back. “Just close your eyes, okay? And if I do anything you don’t like, you tell me. One word, I swear.” Who could tell what Hux was into? If he didn’t like kissing, he might be very much opposed to this.</p><p>             Poe sat back and let his eyes wander over the body stretched out before him. A body that appeared small in this position. Small and vulnerable. Milky white with freckles on his shoulders and in the centre of his chest. A trail of orange hair wandering from his stomach to his crotch, where the wonderfully large cock was already half-hard. Not a bad view at all.</p><p>             And then there was that hand. That slender hand on Poe’s thigh. Poe almost wished he could take off those gloves again. To peel off that soft black leather and reveal those fingers. To kiss the knuckles that still tasted like their second skin.</p><p>             “What?” Hux’s voice drew Poe’s gaze back to his face. To the copper eyelashes and the wonderfully pink mouth. To the nose that looked almost adorable when there were no wrinkles on his forehead and his hair lay softly on the white pillow. “Appraising me?”</p><p>             Poe shook his head and leant over him. “Adoring you, General.” He was surprised at the softness in his own voice, but there it was. And Hux didn’t flinch back. Not with Poe looming over him, green eyes darting to Poe’s lips for only a second before Poe bent over his throat, tracing the lines they had drawn there before, his hand resting on Hux’s cheek. How could this man feel so soft? How?</p><p>             He felt Hux take a shuddering breath that made Poe’s own cock twitch in anticipation. But none of that. Not right now.</p><p>             Kissing Hux’s lips was out of the question. What a pity, really, but it was something he could work with. As long as Hux let his lips shift across other places. Down his throat at first. Slowly and deliberately before tending to Hux’s chest and then to those rosy nipples that felt so wonderful on his tongue.</p><p>             Another deep breath and Hux shifted beneath him, pressing his elbow over his mouth. It was a view that made Poe’s heart contract painfully, but damn it, he wouldn’t interfere with that either. Not unless Hux told him to. Swallowing hard, Poe took one of Hux’s nipples between his teeth, gently nipping at him and drawing something like a muffled sob from Hux. “You’re okay?”</p><p>             “Yes.”</p><p>             Poe nodded. The sharp hissing sound at the end of the word hadn’t been something he could have overheard and Hux’s other hand was tightly clutched on Poe’s thigh. Poe picked it up and weaved his fingers through Hux’s, before letting his other hand slide down Hux’s body. Lean and soft at the same time. “You’re gorgeous, you know that?”</p><p>             Now answer, but Hux’s fingers twitching against his. From this vantage point Poe was almost sure he could see Hux blushing. Almost. But not quite, and he sure as hell wasn’t moving up to check. He slid his fingertips across Hux’s stomach, circling the thin scar on his right abdomen before turning his attention to that sleek, beautiful cock. It already felt heavy in his hand and the moment Poe touched it, the muffled moan could be heard again.</p><p>             To kiss that mouth… to feel that moan against his tongue… but no. None of that.</p><p>             Poe kissed Hux’s nipple, pushing the hardened peak this way and that, just to hear those sounds again. Sounds that didn’t come. <em>Fine,</em> Poe thought and proceeded to the next one while stroking that cock, holding it tight and moving up and down the shaft and revelling in the heavy breathing and the tight grip of those hands with the hard nipple on his tongue.</p><p>             And then he abandoned Hux’s chest, but instead let his lips wander down until they touched Hux’s tip. He could already taste it and Hux’s fingers tightened even more when Poe licked up his shaft. He kept his eyes on Hux’s chin. On the chest heaving already as Poe took him into his mouth, the velvety skin perfect and hot on his tongue.</p><p>             Grunting, Hux pressed his arm harder on his mouth and Poe felt him tense up beneath him as Poe’s heart leapt in triumph. He was so close to the edge already. So damn close, and Poe had barely even started. His own heart was racing, his cock aching with the longing to be touched, but Poe kept it up, swallowing Hux whole and marvelling at the speed with which Hux was edging for the close. “I wanna hear you,” he found himself saying, giving the hand he was still holding a tight squeeze before kissing Hux’s tip. Stars, he <em>did </em>want to hear Hux.</p><p>             But instead, Hux sat up again, his eyes almost glassy, his cheeks reddened as he let go of Poe’s hand, and instead reached for the nightstand again. For the tube he’d used the last time.</p><p>             “Was this no good?” Poe asked, his heart sinking.</p><p>             “No,” Hux breathed, heavily, “no, it was… it is.” He took Poe’s face into his hands, pulled him closer and wiped some spit out of the corner of his mouth. His breath was coming in gasps already and their lips were so close that not a slip of paper would have fit between them, making Poe want to cross the distance. To make Hux taste himself on Poe’s tongue. But instead, Hux blinked and leaned back a bit.</p><p>             Instead, Hux got to his knees and motioned for Poe to turn around, the pupils of his green eyes blown.</p><p>             “Okay…” Poe muttered, wondering why the hell he wasn’t disappointed until he felt Hux behind him. Until Hux’s fingers were circling him again and Hux’s arm went around his chest. Holding him upright and tight while the hot breath hit the skin of his neck. “Okay,” Poe said, whimpering when the first finger thrust into him. There wasn’t anything gentle about this. Nothing at all. But he didn’t find it in him to mind. Not when Hux’s fingers knew exactly what they were doing, making his knees go weak with a few thrusts. “Stars…” he muttered closing his eyes tightly shut when Hux’s arm pulled him closer, the soft lips against his neck, the nose buried in his hair and Hux’s knee spreading his legs. “Hux, I want to hear you,” he gasped again, ignoring the pleading in his own voice, because he felt Hux’s fingers curl up tight against that sweet spot that made his back arch and his cock start to leak.</p><p>             “Dameron…” Hux growled into his ear, and then the fingers retreated. Slowly. Achingly so, leaving Poe a shivering mess. And then Hux cock was already inching into him. Just as slowly as the fingers had left him and Hux’s arm was tight around his chest, his free hand now securely around Poe’s cock, echoing the movements of Poe’s hand.</p><p>             And then he heard it. The soft, guttural groan as Hux slid fully inside him. Far too quickly now and far too far all at once. Poe let out a huff as he leaned into Hux, keeping his eyes tightly shut as he told his body to relax. To just go with it. And with the next thrust it was easier. His breath came out in a series of pants in the same rhythm as Hux’s delightful moans and the strokes of Hux’s hand.</p><p>             “Kriff,” Poe breathed, throwing his head back so it was resting against Hux’s shoulder. Hux who was thrusting into him with such force every single push shook Poe’s body. Hux’s hand on his cock, his moans, now only stifled by Poe’s shoulder… it was too much, and he came within seconds, all the bones in his body seemingly turning to liquid with the release. Only Hux’s trembling breath and the sudden stillness proved that Hux had come too. Just as the last time. But this time Hux kept holding him a bit longer, his lips tight against Poe’s neck, the tongue sliding over his skin as Poe finally opened his eye to stare at the ceiling, finding himself wishing it had the colour of Hux’s eyes.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I feel like I should apologize for this chapter....  should I? The story really needed this POV though, I think? *goes off to hide* good night!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Chapter 19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p> </p><p>Dameron was in the fresher, his clothes lying abandoned on the floor of Hux’s bedroom and for the first time in his life Hux didn’t feel the need to get up to clear away a mess in his room.</p><p>             He stood by his narrow wardrobe, half dressed and fully aware that Pryde was awaiting his call and he only had a few minutes left. His stomach churned at the mere thought and he felt like the food he had just consumed might be on its way up again.</p><p>No… no need to fall into bad habits. There was no need to justify himself. There was no need to be nervous. Hadn’t he managed to conceal his activities from <em>both</em> Pryde <em>and</em> Ren for a whole year? How much more difficult could this be?</p><p>A lot more difficult.</p><p>Because, despite the fact that the Order had won, he sensed that the stakes were higher this time. Pryde didn’t trust him and to him Armitage Hux was no longer of any use. That was where the danger lay. Because at least Ren got a kick out of humiliating him, and under Ren’s command he had some value as a strategist. Now, Pryde found himself in a position he had strived for all his life and those old Imperials were more self-absorbed than any other person Hux had ever met.</p><p>No. He needed to be careful, to tread lightly and stay on top of things. He would stick to the original report. There would be no mention of the kyber. And, yes, the ground was unstable. The report he’d received that morning only confirmed it, and he could give that as evidence. Not long now and that planet would collapse in on itself. Hux looked out the viewport that lay beyond the bed he still hadn’t made yet and allowed the sinking feeling to set in for a few moments as he observed the winds sweeping over the grey surface below. How many crystals were down there? What could actually be exploited in the time remaining? That was a question Pryde would ask, and he could give no answer to that. The tremors only proved one thing: there was no way to exploit any of the strains of kyber without loss of life.</p><p>             Swallowing hard, he pulled the tunic over his undershirt and started closing the buttons, wondering how it was that he felt so well-rested despite everything and why in the name of everything that was right in this universe, he’d been able to sleep at all with another person pressed up against him all night. Even the soreness in his neck was less painful today than it had been all the previous days.</p><p>             The water stopped in the next room just as he pulled on his uniform jacket and just as he thought that he would have to address Dameron’s excessive use of water, the man himself stepped out of the fresher, a small white towel only barely wrapped about his hips. Really, it would have been less revealing had he come out stark naked. Dameron stood there for a moment, his hair still damp and the curls beautifully tousled and a thin layer of water still covering his tan skin. Slowly he raised an eyebrow. “You okay?” he asked, pushing one of his hands through his hair.</p><p>             Hux nodded, unable to trust his voice, when the sight of Dameron like this had already stirred something inside him. Something he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to keep exploring, but at least it drove Pryde from his mind for a moment. Because it made him feel more. More than just desire to push him into the mattress und bury his cock deep inside him until Dameron was little but a trembling mess in his arms. The other needs he didn’t even know he could feel; the need for warmth, for being held like he had been, for falling asleep, those were more disconcerting. And he hated how the latter one was more urgent than the first. “The droid brought your clothes,” he said instead, his voice still heavy with this need to touch Dameron again. To feel his skin, maybe even taste it.</p><p>             “Yeah…” Dameron said, eyes still resting on Hux, dark like Ren’s but so much warmer in every way. “Listen…” he began, putting his hand on the pile of clothes. “I don’t know if… if this is okay for you, but… you know…” he trailed off, seemingly lost for words. Dameron lost for words… not actively silent or babbling like a maniac about anything just to fill a silence he was not comfortable with, but apparently unable to string words together. Their eyes locked for a split second and Hux felt like the very same thoughts he’d had just a few moments ago were going through Damerons’s mind as well.</p><p>             Alliance indeed.</p><p>             “Are you asking me if I would like to do this again?” Hux asked, Dameron’s stammering lending him the strength he needed. And yet there was no sensation of triumph in his chest as he closed the last few hooks at the front of his uniform jacket.</p><p>             “Maybe?” Dameron sounded sheepish. Almost embarrassed and the way his cheeks turned red almost broke Hux’s defences.</p><p>             “Yes,” Hux said curtly quickly averting his gaze to inspect the greatcoat and take out his gloves. “Yes, I cannot say that I would mind.” What an understatement, but the grin plastered on Dameron’s, finally clean-shaven face, was proof enough that Dameron had heard it too. The soft trembling in his voice which he was able to keep in check in every other situation. Hux almost wondered if he would miss the sensation of stubble beneath his fingertips.</p><p>             “Fine,” Hux said. “Yes, I wouldn’t mind at all.” He cleared his throat as he slipped into the gloves which Dameron had been so keen on removing the previous day.</p><p>             One whole day and one night spent in bed with Poe Dameron. If someone had told him that would happen a year ago, he would have laughed into that person’s face. But then again, back then he’d almost expected to die every other day. Just another victim of Kylo Ren’s. But Kylo Ren was dead now and Poe Dameron was standing in front of him, completely naked from one second to the next and Hux couldn’t help but wonder when that image would stop shocking him to the core.</p><p>             Dameron placed the folded tunic and uniform jacked next to the small pile of clothes which Hux had ordered one of the droids to bring by and Hux found himself staring, looking on as Dameron put on the underwear first, his moves deliberate and determined. They made him want to move closer. To feel those sure hands on his body again. What a silly idea given that he had to be available for Pryde in ten minutes. “I had no idea you liked watching me <em>dress</em>, too” Dameron said calmly, stretching out his butt slightly, actually wiggling it about for a few seconds before Hux burst out laughing despite himself.</p><p>             The sound made Dameron turn around, and stare at him, his eyes wide and for a moment Hux felt the air vibrate around them before they both laughed again, the laughter shaking his entire being, making his knees feel weak. A shaking that only stopped when Dameron approached him and put his hands on his waist. Those hands warm and big and sure that pulled him closer and almost made him stumble against Dameron’s broad chest. “That sound is good,” Dameron grinned, taking Hux’s face into his hands. “Really good.” There was a warmth to his voice that shook Hux even more. How could this man have so much of it? Why the heck did he decide to bestow it upon Armitage Hux of all people?</p><p>             The tip of Dameron’s nose was almost touching his and for a fleeting moment Hux actually wondered what those lips might taste like before he pulled away and stepped towards the door. Only five minutes. He pointed at the leather piece lying on top of the pants which the droid had brought. “Don’t forget the garter belt this time, Dameron,” he said, his face burning as he left the bedroom and headed over to his workstation. Normally he would have made the call from his office, but he was running late and there was no way he could make it in time.</p><p>             One last time, he smoothed back his hair when he heard Dameron approach from behind. “Hang on,” he heard him say and Hux turned around. Dameron in his underwear was truly a sight to behold… even if it was only because Hux knew exactly what lay beneath the thin layer of clothing. Swallowing hard, he watched as Dameron reached up to brush his thumb over his temple and then, very carefully plucked something out of his hair.</p><p>             “What are you doing?” Hux growled, making Dameron grin cheekily, the one facial expression enough to make his heart skip a beat. Curse him and that charm of his.</p><p>             “I just like it better when it’s not that severe.”</p><p>             “You are aware that I, unlike you, am sticking to regulation?”</p><p>             “Screw that,” Dameron said, taking a step back and admiring his handiwork. “Want me there in the background when you call him?”</p><p>             Hux huffed and shook his head. “Not in your underwear and not right now.”</p><p>             Dameron laughed again. That terrible devil-may care laugh Hux had only heard a few times, and which made him want to abandon everything and drag him right back into that room with the unmade bed.</p><p>             “Let me do this,” Hux said, and only when he turned away from Dameron for the final time, did he notice that he was smiling.</p><p> </p><p>Poe lingered in the doorway, leaning against the frame of the sliding doors and watching Hux go to his immaculate desk. The faint smile he had worn was gone, but the stray strand of copper hair lay gingerly against his forehead. One small chink in the armour he had allowed himself and he smoothed it back before placing his datapad in its stand. And then his gaze shifted towards the door and he raised an eyebrow in this way only Hux could.</p><p>             This guy who had held a knife to his throat, who had threatened to kill him more than once and who looked so damn adorable now with the slightly scrunched nose and that single strand of hair refusing to lie completely flat now. “Wow,” Poe said before Hux could type in the command to request a meeting with his superior officer, “one night really changes your perception of a person, doesn’t it?”</p><p>             He left the words hanging there before he turned his back to Hux, whose eyes had widened for a second. But he didn’t close the door. He left it open, just so he could hear. Hux might be adorable, sometimes even downright sexy, but damn it, if he let himself be shut out from the conversation now.</p><p>             “General Hux reporting for the briefing with Allegiant General Pryde.”</p><p>             Was he imagining it, or had Hux’s accent changed? His voice hadn’t, but his voice was more clipped, the way he pronounced the words more reminiscent of the Imperial accent he’d come to expect of him… how had that changed over the course of the night? How had he not noticed?</p><p>             He slowly sat down on the bed to put on the socks, which, once again reached above his knees and refused to stay up. How had he not seen the leather belt in the infirmary? Well… he had seen it, but he’d discarded it.</p><p>             “General Pryde,” Hux said and Poe could almost imagine him sitting in his chair. Upright, his back straight, shoulders squared and that one strand of hair lying unruly against the side of his head.</p><p>             Poe smiled to himself as he put the belt around his waist, wondering how the hell he was supposed to attach the socks to it… really, the Order had no sense of comfort. Or they were more kinky than he’d have imagined.</p><p>             “Hux,” an unfamiliar voice answered, and the coldness embedded in that one word made Poe freeze there and then. “Your report did not clarify your reasons for granting Dameron access to sensitive information.”</p><p>             Poe sat stock still. So Hux actually had opened up his access to the holo net. What he’d said the previous evening was no ruse… not unless this was another ploy, staged for Poe’s benefit… but he doubted it.</p><p>             “I made myself sufficiently clear, Allegiant General,” Hux said now, his accent even more pronounced then. Poe got up again as he listened, cursing those damn stockings for starting to drop again. He fumbled beneath the belt as it stuck to his skin until he found the small bulge on the inside of it. There…there were the straps. Hidden in a compartment within the belt. Ludicrous…simply ludicrous. “Dameron needed more than just our propaganda feed to understand what is going on in the core worlds. And he has proven his willingness to help the Order.”</p><p>             Poe barely suppressed a scoff as he fumbled with the straps and attached them to the stockings. They still didn’t feel right, but at least they wouldn’t slip any more. And then he heard the other voice again. The one that was cooler than Hux’s had been at the worst of times. “I see… the incident down on the planet. How many ships are lost?”</p><p>             There was a short stretch of silence and slowly Poe made his way back over to the door. He peeked inside the room and saw the hollowed-out back of a head suspended over Hux’s table. Just a faint image, tinged blue and blurry with static. He’d never gotten over how weird holos of people looked when you looked at them from a different angle.</p><p>             “There are not many left,” Hux said, his jaw clenched tight. His eyes drifted briefly to Poe, before returning to Pryde. “There also is not much to salvage. Most electronic equipment has burnt out, if not from the crashes and the internal explosions, then from the atmospheric charges. The same goes for the shipyard which ceased to be protected by a shield once the citadel fell.”</p><p>             “There is no way to restore it? What other resources were you able to find?”</p><p>             So that was it then… Poe pushed his way further into the main room, ready to vanish back through the door at a moment’s notice. But he needed to see this for himself. But Hux wasn’t looking at him, but kept his eyes determinedly fixed on the hologram in front of him.+             “None,” Hux said matter-of-factly. “There might be something useful hidden within the citadel, but so far the engineers have been unable to access and after the incident the cave beneath is off-limits. The ground is far too unstable.” Hux didn’t even bat an eyelash as he said it. Well, it wasn’t a complete lie. “I believe the <em>Vengeance</em> will be of much better use to the Order when-“</p><p>             “You will continue to send excavation teams into the catacombs and onto the surface. As much as possible needs to be salvaged.”</p><p>             Hux’s nostrils flared. “I cannot condone this,” he said. “I will not put my personnel in danger like that if it is avoidable.”</p><p>             “It is the wish of High Command that as many artefacts as possible be recovered.” Poe shuddered. He knew very well that when Pryde talked of <em>High Command</em> he meant himself and himself alone. “If you must, secure the areas first.”</p><p>             Poe swallowed hard and he crossed his arms over his chest, suppressing the urge to insult Pryde out loud. <em>If you must…</em></p><p>             “I will have the engineers come up with a plan, however I cannot say if that is a possibility as of right now.”</p><p>             “Do what you must, Hux, but the excavation needs to be underway as quickly as possible. You have salvaged equipment from Zeffo, I believe? Have those machines transferred to Exegol.”</p><p>Hux didn’t look over at Poe, though Poe felt his attention on himself. At least Hux had bought some more time for his people. That was not nothing. “What of Dameron then?” Hux said, his voice still betraying nothing. Nothing of the fact that their relationship had undergone quite a significant shift.</p><p>             “Has he agreed to cooperate yet?”</p><p>             “No.” Hux frowned. “Not yet.”</p><p>             “You have two more weeks then. If you do not manage to persuade him by then, we will have to find another method, or his cooperation will no longer be needed. Coruscant has capitulated already and several other core worlds have already suggested a fast surrender. However, I believe his cooperation could be useful when it comes to Chandrila.”</p><p>             Coruscant… of course it had folded. That damn city had been a favoured spot of Imperialist thoughts ever since the Empire fell, and especially since the New Republic had refused to reclaim the world as its capital. Chandrila was one of the more important players by now and they had been the first seat of the new senate. Of course they refused to give in. Poe felt a brief sense of triumph, but then he remembered those damn superlases which some of the Order’s ship still possessed. If Chandrila didn’t capitulate, the Order would simply wipe it from the face of the galaxy. He swallowed hard and leaned against the doorframe again as he watched Hux speak again.</p><p>             “I believe he will cooperate, Allegiant General.” His jaw tightened visibly. “He knows what is best for him.”</p><p>             “I hope so, Hux. I would hate to see you fail again.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oookay, another tiny cliffhanger....  Sorry this took so long. I'm really slow at the moment. Off to working on the other GP fic :-P</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Chapter 20</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p>Dameron was still leaning in the doorway when the call ended. Hux had refused to look at him, focusing instead on Pryde until his eyes were burning and his head was pounding. But now there was no more excuse.</p><p>             Slowly, he turned his head and he felt his breath hitch at the sight of Dameron standing there, his garter belt in the perfect place, just about his navel the thin black straps holding up the stockings. They were perfectly aligned, drawing Hux’s eyes immediately to the revealing piece of fabric covering Dameron’s crotch. He swallowed hard and got up, refusing to let himself be drawn in by this again. “You’d better get dressed,” he said quietly, needlessly adjusting his gloves just for the sake of having something to do. It would be so easy to just walk over there and pull Dameron closer by those straps. What a ridiculous thought. They couldn’t waste another day like this, tempting as it might sound. Hux had never, not once in his life let this happen.</p><p>Somehow with Dameron it had. And he couldn’t find a shred of regret within him. Even if he’d never thought he could be enticed to do waste time like this. To allow himself to be held. No… no, that had never happened and he hadn’t even thought it could. Not even with Miray. Things between them had cooled down within a day and it had been the last time someone had stayed in his quarters over night. But Dameron… Dameron was different. He had this way of touching him. Of being there that made Hux want to just stay in here and forget everything for a few more hours.</p><p>             “Don’t like the view?”</p><p>             Hux didn’t look up. “I do,” he found himself admitting, opening the top drawer of his desk to look at the few items he kept in there. “That’s the problem. We do not have time for this.”</p><p>             “Yeah, two weeks, huh? What then?”</p><p>             “He will either order your execution or send the Security Bureau <em>before</em> he orders your execution.” Hux was surprised how difficult it was to say these things, when he had thought them before himself. Speaking them out loud gave them a power he didn’t like.</p><p>             “What about Chandrila?” Dameron asked, not batting an eyelash at the notion of death hanging over his head, ready to end it all.</p><p>             “What do you mean?” Hux frowned at Dameron, though he knew full well what the other man was getting at.</p><p>             “They’re resisting?”</p><p>             There was no denying it. And he <em>had</em> given Dameron access to the holo news. He sighed. “Get dressed,” he said quietly. “I’ll show you.”</p><p>             When Dameron turned to head back into the bedroom, Hux reached into the drawer.</p><p> </p><p>He took Dameron to his office and was relieved that he didn’t make any sort of funny remark to the Stormtroopers. The shifts of guard duty had happened three times since he and Dameron had vanished inside Hux’s quarters and there was little to no doubt these guards knew exactly how long Dameron had been inside there. There was also no chance that the gossip hadn’t started already and there was nothing he could do to stop it from spreading. Luckily this sort of thing often took weeks to spread to command level.</p><p>             So, what? Even if it did, it wasn’t forbidden. Granted, Dameron was a prisoner despite his uniform and the stripes on his arm, but this little escapade might just as well count as a means to break him… <em>Or to strengthen the alliance.</em> The thought popped up unbidden and unwelcome. Hux pulled a face and was relieved when the doors of the turbo lift opened and they could walk again. No, it was high time they left his quarters and moved their conversation to here. Not only because he needed to focus on the work at hand again, but also because he didn’t trust himself to be near a bed with Dameron when the image of him in those garters seemed to be burned into his retinas.</p><p>             “Guards, remain outside,” he ordered brusquely, ignoring the raised eyebrow from Dameron. When they were inside and the door had closed, Hux approached the desk to put the datapad in its stand. “Come here.”</p><p>             Dameron sighed and put his hands on his hips.</p><p>             “What?” Hux prompted.</p><p>             But Dameron didn’t respond. Instead, he stood where he was for a moment, looking directly at Hux with a frown on his face. “What’s your strategy?” he asked again, this time with more force behind his words and when he finally approached Hux, he was displaying an air of determination. Of anger. His brows were knit tightly together and as he stood next to Hux, he folded his arms over his chest. “You must have thought of something by now.”</p><p>             “The last thing we need at this moment is a civil war within the Order,” Hux said quietly. “And a direct attack on Pryde would make that happen immediately.”</p><p>             “It would mean another chance for the Republic.”</p><p>             “No,” Hux said coolly, turning on the holo in the centre of his desk. “You misinterpret the situation. There is some resistance, yes, but you have to be aware that news of the destruction of the Sith Eternal fleet has not reached anyone outside of the Order. And it will remain that way.”</p><p>             “That’s what you say.”</p><p>             “Yes, it is,” Hux said, the familiar sense of annoyance flaring up in him at the way Dameron was talking to him. He flicked through the database, feeling Dameron’s gaze resting on him the entire time. With a sigh, he stepped to the side. “See for yourself. Had you bothered to check your own holo yesterday morning, we wouldn’t have to go through this ordeal now.” He had seriously thought Dameron knew. How could Dameron not have checked the second he could?</p><p>             Without a word, Dameron sat down behind the desk in Hux’s chair and Hux took a step to the side and turned his back on him.</p><p>             “These are all recordings,” Dameron said quietly. “No live feed.”</p><p>             “Yes, the disturbance caused by the static in the atmosphere and the surrounding systems makes a clear reception downright impossible. Instead we receive a data burst every day and keep the channels open for important communication.”</p><p>             There was some more silence. Silence during which Dameron was going through the database, combing through it for reports that told him what he wanted to know.</p><p>             Hux stood stock still, hands clasped behind his back as he looked over the <em>Vengeance’s </em>outer hull as it was trapped between the dark grey clouds and the ruins of the battlefield below. He was almost relieved he didn’t have to see the cracks in the surface in person. The report of that morning had been enough. And to think Pryde was actually expecting him to send people down there to gather more Sith artifacts. It really was a good thing Pryde didn’t know a thing about the kyber below.</p><p>             And then he heard it. Dameron turning on the holo to watch a newsfeed by a common Core station. It told of the surrender of Coruscant and Corellia. Of how the population there greeted the Order with enthusiasm. Of how the new seat of government would be established in the very spot where the Emperor’s palace had once been. Hearing these words was strange even to him. And he couldn’t help but feel resentment. This galaxy had spit him out once before, banning him and everyone who now was a member of the Order to live in this part of uncivilized wild space where they were surrounded by enemies hitherto unknown. It had taken them years to establish a viable base of operations. And now… now the galaxy was welcoming them. Or at least that was how the reporter was putting it. Hux was familiar enough with the language and the tone in the newsfeed to know what Dameron blurted out only a few moments later. “That’s First Order propaganda.”</p><p>             Hux nodded once. “Yes,” he said calmly.</p><p>             “They took over the channel already?”</p><p>             Slowly, Hux turned around to face him. “The Final Order has employed people within those networks for years, Dameron,” he said calmly. “Why do you think so few people joined the rebels?”</p><p>             Dameron’s face was almost grey, his hands balled into fists. “I-“ he broke off, unwilling to believe what his eyes and ears were telling him. It was almost enough to make Hux pity him. Almost.</p><p>             “The First Order has had friends and supporters within the Republic for decades, Dameron,” he said quietly. “Where do you think the funds to start it all came from?” Funds, supplies, even ships and weaponry had come to them from the Republic. None of these sponsors had been in the Hosnian system when it was destroyed, of course. Informing them shortly before had been a curtesy from Pryde and the fact that these people had done nothing to warn the Republic was proof enough that this so-called humane society was as corrupt and cowardly as the Empire before it. This needed to change. And fast. Pryde could not be allowed to win.</p><p>             Dameron swallowed visibly as the realization hit. He turned around slowly in the chair to stare at the holo again. “I grew up with this station,” he said, passing a hand over his face, “This is insane.” He cleared his throat, then leaned over the datapad to access the next holo channel. Hux was not familiar with most of them, in fact, he had only started accessing these channels a few years ago, when the emergence of the First Order had become imminent. Not after he had become General had he even thought of familiarizing himself with what the Republic news were saying. They had been disturbing at first. Disturbing in the way they were colourful and vibrant and almost mind-numbing in the way the discussed each and every topic in depth. The new approach, the one they had taken on recently was more soothing. More familiar, although the faces of reporters and news anchors were still not uniform enough to his liking. But he might get used to that.</p><p>             And then Dameron found another report. One from a station on Chandrila that Hux had never paid particularly close attention to. But then again, Chandrila had never been of much interest, given that the Republic’s senate switched planets as seat of government every other year and that the Republic’s insignificant fleet was mainly stationed in the Hosnian system. The station was showing an interview of a local politician who talked about the Order. About how it was a threat to each and every free world in the galaxy. About how giving in could never be the solution. Hux barely recognized her. Mon Mothma was bound to be in her eighties by now, and still she strived for unity. To make the galaxy a better place, even if it meant disorder and suffering for millions. She had doomed these people, and yet he couldn’t help but acknowledge her determination even at her old age.</p><p>             “I hope people will listen to her,” Dameron muttered now, his hand hovering over the datapad, before turning it off altogether.</p><p>             “She was your first Chancellor, was she not? A friend to your Princess?”</p><p>             Dameron turned his head slowly. “She’d have hated it if you called her that.” The wane smile only betrayed his grief… grief at a superior’s death. Another thing Hux had never experienced. For him, every death or defeat of a superior officer had meant advancement of his own position. Shouldn’t Dameron be relieved that Organa had died and left him in the position he was in now? If it hadn’t been for his new rank, Pryde certainly would not have let him live.</p><p>             “Mon Mothma was a friend of Leia’s, yes.”</p><p>             Leia… he even called her by her first name? There truly had been no proper chain of command within the Resistance, had there? Or was it simply that Dameron and Organa had been this close?</p><p>             “Why are you looking at me like that?” Dameron asked, leaning back in his chair. “What did I do wrong now?</p><p>             “What are you talking about?”</p><p>             “You look about ready to throttle me.”</p><p>             Hux huffed in indignation and shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous, Dameron,” he said.</p><p>             “Well, what is it then?”</p><p>             Two days ago, Hux would have snapped at Dameon. Two days ago, he would not have even thought twice about pushing him away for asking questions like this. Questions that concerned his thoughts. And, no, Dameron still didn’t need to know them, he didn’t need to know what Hux thought of him and his tedious rebellion, but something in the way Dameron said these things struck a chord with him. A chord he didn’t want to think about too much either. This was only complicating things, wasn’t it? Sex was simple. It was a nice enough distraction. But with Dameron this one night had already changed the balance of power in Dameron’s favour. Not entirely yet, and Hux had to be careful not to give way too much. “Your rebellion…” he began, watching Dameron raise an eyebrow, “you did not put emphasis on rank and procedure, did you?”</p><p>             Understanding flashed across Dameron’s face. “No, we do,” he replied with a shrug, “but I like to think of it as us being close.” He swallowed hard. “It’s just how this works. We all had our reasons to join up. Leia never stopped fighting the Empire. She disagreed with Mon Mothma about the stance the New Republic should take on the demilitarization. It was one of the reasons why she quit her position as senator and founded the Resistance.”</p><p>             Hux leaned against the viewscreen, crossing his arms across his chest. He knew these facts, but it was different hearing them being told like a story. By someone who had known Organa. Someone who wasn’t Ren and whose judgement was not clouded by hatred. What had that princess done to make her son loathe her like this? To not instill even a trace of loyalty in him? Loyalty, which Dameron apparently felt. Not even Brendol Hux had been able to do that to <em>him.</em> “Why did you join?” It was a personal question, but one he’d wondered about more often than not. What made an officer of the New Republic quit his commission to sign up with a group of guerrilla fighters, abandoning all prospects of security and recognition for what he was doing?</p><p>             Dameron eyed him for a moment and Hux knew he was thinking about refusing an answer himself. But then he turned off the holo with one hand and said: “One of the pilots in my squadron was killed in an engagement with the First Order. My superiors weren’t too happy when I followed up on it and discovered that the Order was indeed becoming a threat. They refused to do anything about it, so I accepted Leia’s offer. She sought me out when she heard I’d disobeyed orders.” He was actually smiling now.</p><p>             “How fitting,” Hux said quietly.</p><p>             At this, Dameron laughed. One short burst of laughter that died as quickly as it had come. He looked at the place where the holo of Mon Mothma had been a few minutes ago, now calm. “Mon Mothma wasn’t in charge anymore. I doubt she would have let this information pass her by like it did my superiors… but maybe you’re right and they were all already in the Order’s bag… Palpatine was never really gone was he?”</p><p>             Hux’s throat grew tight. He loathed the idea that the people in the Core had remained loyal to the Emperor, instead of the ideals the Empire symbolized, but maybe Dameron was right. The Core had, after all, benefitted greatly from the peace and the corruption the Empire brought. But they could change that now! Palpatine was gone, and Pryde would be gone too eventually.</p><p>             “Mon Mothma is still fairly active as a politician, is she not?” Hux put his head to the side. “Do you know her personally?”</p><p>             “No.” Dameron shrugged. “And she’d never help you.”</p><p>             “You said she’s a pacifist.” He only barely managed to hold back a sneer at that word. Idealistic thinking truly was a plague upon this galaxy.</p><p>             “Yes, but she was also the leader of the Alliance. She knew that fighting was the only way to bring back democracy.”</p><p>             Hux balled his hands into fists. He knew where this was going to lead. Either Dameron and he would keep arguing about the necessity of war, or about the failure of democracy. And arguing was not going to get them anywhere. “I need you to contact her. In your function as the last leader of the Resistance. Tell her to urge their people to surrender.”</p><p>             “She won’t do that,” Dameron said promptly.</p><p>             “Try,” Hux said, resisting the temptation to lean over Dameron. That road would not get them where they needed to go either. “Try, or Pryde will order the planet to be obliterated. He has very few qualms, you know?”</p><p>             Dameron swallowed visibly and he bit his lip. There was little doubt that he was fully aware of that. That he also knew that his own life might depend on their success. “You can’t just abandon this place, can you?”</p><p>             “No.” And if he told Pryde that Dameron was willing to cooperate, Dameron would be shipped off and there was no way Hux would be able to accompany him. “I have to think of another way.”</p><p>             “Fine,” Dameron said with a frown. “I got an idea how to make contact with her. She won’t tell her people to surrender, but I guess we could get her to the table.”</p><p>             “Negotiations?”</p><p>             “Well, it’s all you’re gonna get from her, if that.”</p><p>             Hux nodded grimly, hands clenched into fists.</p><p>             “Right. So we’ll just have to establish contact. And for that we’re gonna have to get to Ajan Kloss somehow.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Garter belt... there it is... I wish these guys had spend some more time with that thing. Damn it plot. Go away.</p>
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<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Chapter 21</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We continue with the plot.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p> </p><p>“Ajan Kloss?” Hux repeated. He couldn’t remember ever having heard that name before, but judging by the way Dameron pressed his lips into a thin line, he could tell that Dameron was terrified he’d given away something vital. Something he’d thought Hux already knew. “Was that your base?”</p><p>             Dameron nodded slowly. Well, how <em>was</em> Hux supposed to know? He hadn’t passed on the information by sending messages to a certain base. That would have been too easy to trace.</p><p>             “What’s there that we can use? I can send a team and-“</p><p>             “No.” Dameron slowly came to his feet. “No, you won’t.” He raised a finger at him and took a step towards him. As though that could stop him. A raid on a former rebel base with a possibly valuable discovery might just be the thing he needed to get back in favour with High Command.</p><p>             He didn’t say it. Curse this. He knew he wouldn’t even do it. Not because Dameron was making an impression on him, far from it. “We cannot go,” he said instead. “The <em>Vengeance</em> needs to stay put. We need to stay put, or this entire operation will come crashing down on us.”</p><p>             “Fine,” Dameron said, throwing his hands into the air in another display of emotion. “Fine. Let’s stay put and wait for my execution.”</p><p>             Hux refused to dignify this with an answer. It was almost as though Dameron was testing him. As though his main goal was to make Hux say that that might not be the worst turn of events possible. And maybe Hux would have said so a few days ago, but ever since he had put far more work into this alliance than he’d planned originally. But then again, originally, he hadn’t planned on anything but getting rid of Dameron as quickly as possible. He certainly hadn’t planned on sleeping with him. But it had happened, and somehow he still couldn’t find it in him to regret it. Not even when Dameron was being sarcastic. That certainly was a first. “I was not saying that,” he said quietly. “I said I would send an extraction team. What do you need?”</p><p>             Dameron swallowed hard. “I don’t want it to fall into the Order’s hands.”</p><p>             “Do you believe there are still rebels there?”</p><p>             “No.” Dameron shook his head, but Hux wasn’t entirely sure he believed him.</p><p>             “What’s on Ajan Kloss then, Dameron?”</p><p>             Another silent moment. One in which nothing happened but Dameron staring at him, his eyes narrowed slightly. “I can’t trust your people.”</p><p>             “You cannot trust <em>me</em>, Dameron. Do not mistake what we did for an invitation to do that. But you need to cooperate if you want to save yourself.”</p><p>             “So it all really was about getting me to cooperate?” There was a smile on his lips that made Hux want to throttle him. “This is all just biology, then?” He pointed fist at himself, then at Hux, pressing his fingertips against Hux’s sternum.</p><p>His chest tightened, and he clasped his hands behind his back again. It would have been so easy to confirm the statement. To make this all short and painless. But he knew that it would mean giving up any other chance of having Dameron spend another night. And, yes, so far it had only been one, but the prospect of that being the last, was unpleasant to say the least. But that was something he couldn’t say either. He took a step towards Dameron until they were so close their chests were almost touching. And Dameron didn’t take a step back. “If I wanted you to cooperate, I would not have needed to do that with you.”</p><p>Dameron’s eyes widened for a moment. How could eyes that dark be so warm? “You’re very full of yourself.”</p><p>Hux didn’t flinch away. “I am stating the obvious. You know what the stakes are. You knew what you were getting yourself into yesterday. We have established that you need me and that I need you if we want to get away from here and live to fight another day. There does not have to be <em>trust </em>between us.”</p><p>“So, now we’re fighting together?” Dameron snorted and leaned against the desk, dropping his gaze for a moment. “Fine…” he sighed and it for a moment it seemed like he was going to add that that was only one of the definitions of trust in his book. But, gratefully, he let it drop. “The only way to access what must now be all that is left to the Resistance’s network is on that planet. It really is all that is left, and I can’t let it fall into the Order’s hands. Not even you or your crew.”</p><p>Hux frowned at him. Well, Dameron had given him the information, albeit not all of it. That was something. And Hux knew that this was likely all he was ever going to get from Dameron. So he nodded. “Alright,” he said quietly. “So your ideal scenario would be to get to that planet, access said network and find a way to contact Mon Mothma. And perhaps find out who else is still organizing in the name of your princess.”</p><p>“Would you stop calling her that?”</p><p>“Why?” Hux asked, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>“It’s disrespectful.”</p><p>“She’s dead.”</p><p>Dameron pressed his lips into a thin line and nodded. “Yes. But she was a great and generous woman. A brilliant mind and a born leader. You would have liked her.”</p><p>Hux doubted that, but if Dameron chose to believe it and that made him feel better, so be it. “Mon Mothma is not the only person you need to take into consideration.”</p><p>“No.” Dameron frowned at the tips of his boots. “But it’s a step in the right direction and-“ His head snapped around at the soft chime from the door and instinctively Hux took a step back, putting some distance between himself and Dameron, before the door split open and Mitaka stepped inside, his cheeks flushed as always when he’d rushed somewhere.</p><p>“Come in, Lieutenant,” Hux said quietly, moving towards Mitaka and ignoring Dameron’s gaze, which was still fixed on him.</p><p>Mitaka’s eyes actually darted between him and Dameron for a moment, before fixing on Hux. “Sir, five ships have been detected on the long-range sensors, taking position outside the system. Each about the size of an Imperial Star Destroyer.”</p><p>“Hang on,” Dameron said, “you followed our fleet easily enough.” The corners of his mouth were twitching up. Was he seriously thinking there were more Resistance fighters  heading this way to take on what the presumed was the rest of the fleet?</p><p>“Are they moving towards us?” Hux asked, ignoring Dameron’s comment.</p><p>“No, they appeared 5 minutes ago and haven’t moved since.”</p><p>Hux sneered and looked over his shoulder at the massive ship stretching out beyond the viewscreen.</p><p>“We have lost all contact to the rest of the fleet. They are blocking all signals.”</p><p>Hux’s stomach tightened as his mind kicked into gear. There were only a few ships in general capable of blocking transmissions, lest of all five of the same size. “Which vector did they emerge from?” he asked, his voice strained.</p><p>“It is difficult to say, General, but Captain Tormac believes they have come from the Ascendancy.”</p><p>“Ascendancy?” Dameron echoed, but Hux didn’t respond, choosing to stare at Mitaka instead. Five minutes lost already. Five minutes during which they had dropped out of contact with the rest of the fleet.  “Come with me,” he said quietly to Dameron.</p><p>“Hux?”</p><p>“No,” Hux said curtly, already striding towards the door. “No, our sensors <em>are </em>better than that.” Dameron was following and Mitaka was right on his heel as well. “But you might recall that this system and the route here is hard to navigate due to the many disturbances.”</p><p>Dameron shut up then, even though he threw Hux a questioning look when he told the Stormtroopers with one single gesture to stay at their post while he, Mitaka and Hux stepped into the turbo lift. There simply was no room for two Stormtroopers in here as well. And, yes, it might discourage any funny ideas Dameron might have about the Resistance, or rebel sympathisers coming to the rescue two weeks late, if Hux made a point of leaving them behind</p><p>“What’s the Ascendancy, Hux?”</p><p>Hux grit his teeth. “They have not bothered us in our territory for years,” he said quietly. “Explain, Lieutenant,” he looked briefly at the younger man, then stepped out onto the bridge, where an atmosphere of busy tension was already thick in the air. Officers were looking at their consoles, going over scans, checking for the second time that all systems were operational. Nobody looked up as he strode over the walkways towards Tormac, who was talking quietly to another officer. Behind him he heard Mitaka mutter a quick explanation to Dameron and Hux felt Dameron’s eyes trained on him all the while, while his own heart picked up pace.</p><p>“The Ascendancy is a group of humanoid aliens with a vast territory. When the Empire came to the Unknown Regions, they engaged in attacks on our fleet early on. About twenty years ago the Order managed to push them back enough to establish their own territory, but the relationship has been tense at best.”</p><p>“Status report, Captain,” Hux said loudly, ignoring Mitaka’s short speech. The words alone were enough to make bile rise in his throat. The euphemisms Mitaka was using were downright abominable, albeit almost word-by-word copies from the textbooks taught at the Academy.</p><p>“Sir!” Tormac was a few years older than Hux, a good officer, but one who was not very imaginative. “Two more ships have appeared in the corridor leading away from the planet. It arrived from the same vector.”</p><p>“They’re a real threat?” Dameron asked quietly behind him and Hux’s stomach tightened. Damn it all. If there was one thing he could not deal with on top of it all, it was an unprovoked attack like this one.</p><p>“If it is them,” Hux said, briefly turning to look at him again. The almost triumphant trace of a smile had vanished from Dameron’s face. That was something. “No Ascendancy fleet ships have been sighted in this sector in years.”</p><p>“No, General,” Tormac answered. “A squadron of Special Forces TIEs are standing by.”</p><p>Hux nodded thoughtfully. “Send them out. I want a confirmation on this as quickly as possible.” He simply couldn’t afford being blocked from any transmissions for more than a few hours, and he had to admit, it wasn’t at all unlikely the Ascendancy was indeed moving in on them now. “How many forces are still on the surface?”</p><p>“Only a few teams, Sir, as per Allegiant General Pryde’s orders. Fifty Stormtroopers and twenty officers.”</p><p>Hux clenched his fists behind his back. So Pryde actually had sent orders to Tormac, completely ignoring Hux as executive commander. “Get them back onboard,” he said quietly. “Get this ship ready for battle.” He watched as Tormac nodded curtly and proceeded to the left to carry out Hux’s orders. Within seconds Dameron was standing next to him, so close their arms were almost touching.</p><p>“What the hell is going on here?”</p><p>Hux frowned at him, then waved at Mitaka to return to his post. The Lieutenant hovered for a moment, his eyes fixed on Dameron, before he pulled himself together and walked off. “We are preparing for an attack, Dameron,” he said quietly. “Surely you are familiar with that concept?”</p><p>Dameron swallowed hard, but once again he didn’t back down. “What are you expecting here?”</p><p>Hux averted his gaze. The ship would be ready for battle within five minutes at the most, though the evacuation of the teams below would take longer than that.</p><p>“What makes you think it’s this Ascendancy?” Dameron asked in an even lower tone, his face so close to Hux’s that Hux could feel his warm breath on his skin. It made goosebumps appear on his arms, and he quickly averted his gaze to look out the viewport on the right. To where the new cracks in the surface below could be clearly seen, making something in his chest ache with the urge to go down there. He clenched his hands into fists, pushing that feeling down vehemently.</p><p>“We shall see if it is,” he answered instead. “But you should not count on them being friendly towards you or your precious Republic.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So... what are we dealing with here? Has Sour lost her mind and decided to throw something at her readers out of the blue? Yes, she did. Whoopsie!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Chapter 22</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry this chapter took so long. I was writing every day and cursing myself for taking so long to post another chapter. Only today did I realize how LONG this chapter is. Anyway: enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p> </p><p>The TIEs were deployed, deploying sattelites that would boost the <em>Vengeance’s </em>comm signals as best as possible, and although there was nothing left to be done for the next few hours until they reached their target, Hux stayed on the bridge longer than would have been expected of him. Just because he knew Pryde would not even have gone here if the commands could be issued from his office.</p><p>             He felt Dameron’s gaze resting on him for several more minutes, but the other didn’t speak, leaving Hux to walk among the officers, talking occasionally to them as he looked over their shoulders. The displays showed no new information on the ships, but this way he could at least make sure that this crew knew he was here to make sure they were doing their jobs properly. The teams from the surface were aboard the <em>Vengeance</em> within twenty minutes. It was not bad but could be improved upon and Hux made a mental note to discuss this issue with Tormac during the next briefing.</p><p>             The battle stations were manned, everyone in their place two hours before the TIEs were even to reach the ships. Now it was time to wait. To wait and think of a strategy for when the TIEs did indeed confirm Ascendancy presence.</p><p>             His stomach twisted painfully at the mere thought while he looked at the tactical display of an Ascendancy battle ship on the display in front of him. The Lieutenant behind the console didn’t look up at Hux, though he sensed her tension. “Pull up the latest schematics, Lieutenant,” he said calmly, although he knew them by heart. The last schematics they had managed to obtain of ships belonging to the Ascendancy fleet were fifteen years old at least and ever since next to no Chiss had crossed the path of a First Order vessel. A lot of things must have changed in that time, and Hux was sure he couldn’t rely on them having bad shields anymore. He hated going into fights not knowing what he was going to face, and right now they could not be sure they weren’t indeed facing the Republic right now. Or maybe Pryde had sent ships to take them out after all.</p><p>             He swallowed hard and turned away from the console. There was nothing left to be done for now. Nothing but wait for the scouts to report back. As he looked up from the pit, he saw that Dameron was still standing exactly where Hux had left him, standing by the viewport, looking down on Exegol. The place of his latest defeat.</p><p>             Slowly, Hux approached him, hands clasped behind his back. Really, if it hadn’t been for Dameron’s unruly hair, he could have passed as an officer to the Order. And for a moment Hux couldn’t help but wonder what that would have been like. It was a thought he chose not to dwell on. Nothing good could come of it.</p><p>             “This Pryde guy is not gonna be happy about this,” Dameron said, his voice so low that only Hux could hear him. “You abandoning the excavation to fight someone.”</p><p>             Hux let out a long breath and shook his head. “We are cut off from the rest of the fleet. This is just a precaution.”</p><p>             Dameron flashed him a brief look. “Sure,” he said, his tone pointedly neutral. “Sure.” The second time he said it carried more irony than the first. “Any excuse to get away from here?”</p><p>             “No, this planet will not be left undefended.” Hux frowned at the wreckage below. It might indeed all be destroyed beyond repaid, but there were billions of tons of Final Order tech down there, not to mention the rich veins of kyber stretching out below the surface. He felt a shudder run down his spine. The ships down there might not be anything but heaps of scrap anymore, but they could not allow them to fall into enemy hands. Not if there was even the slightest chance of these parts still functioning.</p><p>             He looked at Tormac, who was standing a few feet away, going over something on his datapad. “Captain!” The officer’s head snapped around abruptly. “Inform me if anything else turns up.”</p><p>             Tormac nodded curtly before returning to his duties.</p><p> </p><p>The corridors were not as empty as usual, the tension in the filtered air palpable. He hadn’t been aboard this ship for a long time now, but the preparation for battle was the same everywhere. The officers he passed were on high alert, the patrols of Stormtroopers more frequent than usual. Not that Dameron noticed. He appeared to be almost unperturbed by the developments.</p><p>             There were still several hours to go before they could hope to start moving again. “What now?” Dameron asked as they got off a turbolift, again without Stormtroopers in tow. Hux was not entirely sure he wasn’t being too reckless here, but then again, he had already taken a chance on Dameron that day. This was to be the last one.</p><p>             “Infirmary,” Hux replied curtly.</p><p>             “This isn’t the way to-</p><p>“No,” Hux interrupted him, “not to the one you have been to, Dameron.”</p><p>             “What then?” Dameron said, turning around to look over his shoulder.</p><p>             This one was infinitely closer to one of the main hangars and maybe he should have taken more precautions, but there was very little chance Dameron even knew where it was. “It’s the one near the cadets’ area of the ship.”</p><p>             “The cadets?”</p><p>             Another nod. The door slid open in front of them now, revealing another stretch of corridor, doors leaving off to the right and left, an exact replica of the officer’s infirmary on one of the upper levels.</p><p>             “How many of them are still in here?”</p><p>             “Five,” Hux said, only stopping when Dameron’s footsteps ceased behind him. Slowly he turned around. Dameron was still standing by the sliding door, hands hanging loosely at his sides, one of his expressive eyebrows raised. “What?”</p><p>             “What’re you trying to pull here?”</p><p>             “How do you mean?” There was soft mumbling coming from somewhere to their left.</p><p>             “I-“ Dameron broke off, then he sighed and caught up with him. “Do you usually do this? Visit the wounded every day?”</p><p>             “No,” his throat was uncharacteristically tight when he understood why Dameron was looking at him like this. Like he was unsure of what to make of this. Well, now was not the time. “Would you rather return to your quarters?” <em>Or mine?</em> He swallowed hard when Damerons fingertips briefly brushed over the inside of his wrist. The touch left an imprint on his skin. Hot and tingly. It made him want to pull away and reach out for Dameron at the same time. To feel that touch again and to put as much distance between them as possible with all these people nearby.</p><p>             “Why now?”</p><p>             “Why now what?”</p><p>             “Why come here now, if not to impress me?”</p><p>             Impress him? Impress Dameron? The question should be why he would want to impress Dameron at all. And what could a visit in the infirmary achieve in that regard anyway? The sneer was hovering just out of reach, but he pushed it down again. He turned away without saying anything else. To shrug off the question, he told himself.</p><p> </p><p>Hux was talking to each and every one of the young people lying under the crisp white blankets, hands clasped behind his back, his expression distant and at the same time, weirdly, not unfriendly. The way he stood there, talking quietly to one of the young cadets, Hux almost reminded him of one of the teachers at the Academy. Not a military man, but one who was deeply invested in his students learning something. Of one concerned about their well-being.</p><p>             Poe did his best not to frown as he watched on.</p><p>             First that display on the bridge, now this.</p><p>             There were no doctors present, just the occasional medical droid. Not even within the hallways could he make out any movement.</p><p>             “General?”</p><p>             Poe took a step back to peer inconspicuously out into the corridor. Nobody was there. He and Hux were the only ones on their feet in this room. Maybe… maybe, if he played it just right, he could sneak off. But where to? Surely it wouldn’t take Hux longer than a few seconds to alert security.</p><p>             Either that, or he would have to take more drastic measures. His gaze moved over to Hux. To his straight back and broad, angular shoulders. The stretch of skin of his neck exposed. Poe’s mouth was so dry he could barely swallow. Kriff it, he should be better than this.</p><p>             “General?”</p><p>             Hux turned around slowly, but he wasn’t looking at the kid in the bed behind him and only now did Poe realize that Hux had already talked to her. The girl was talking to him. Tentatively, he moved closer.</p><p><em>General</em>. The title had been new two weeks ago and he had barely been able to think of himself that way. Only the fact that Finn was willing to share that burden with him had made it acceptable. But now Finn wasn’t there anymore. This was on him. All of it… and this kid thought he was one of the Order.</p><p><em>General.</em> He only wished he didn’t have to think of himself like that. “What’s up, ki- cadet.” He barely caught himself before he could address her like that. He was almost sure that Hux was suppressing an eye-roll.</p><p>The girl frowned. She was around eighteen at most, her dark blond hair meticulously slicked back. “Sir?”</p><p>“General Dameron is a rather unconventional, commander, cadet,” Hux said, before addressing the girl sitting up in front of him.</p><p>“I see,” the girl said, seemingly unsure of what to make of that statement, while Hux listened to the boy talking about what appeared to be a science project. The cadet’s slender fingers were clasped in front of her. “General, may I say something?”</p><p>Poe raised his eyebrows at her. She looked so damn young under the bright lights. He didn’t know her name, he had no idea how badly she had been injured or what was still wrong with her. This person was a complete and utter stranger. They hadn’t even fought on the same side in this war. Had the Resistance won, he might have been responsible of her death. “Sure.”</p><p>She was still looking at him all confused and it took Poe another few moments to realize that this kid really wasn’t used to adults talking to her like this.</p><p>“Go ahead,” he said, trying to encourage her and wishing he’d taken the time to rip off the rank insignia off of this uniform as well.</p><p>“Thank you. Both you and General Hux for staying and getting us out of there.”</p><p>“Sure,” Poe nodded, forcing a smile. “When are you getting out of here?”</p><p>She lowered her gaze for a moment and it seemed as though she was doing her best to steady herself. “In two days, I believe. The prosthetic will be attached this afternoon.”</p><p>Prosthetic. So that was why she was here then? His gaze drifted down to the lower part of the bed. To where the blanket formed an odd shape he hadn’t noticed before. All he could do was nod. There was a significant difference between seeing a weathered soldier being wounded in the field and this. No, she really couldn’t be older than twenty. He caught movement from the corner of his eye and saw Hux move towards the door. “You take care now, okay?”</p><p>She didn’t respond in words, but nodded briefly, her fingers tightening on the blanket again. Poe looked at the other cadets in their beds. This girl was the only one sitting upright. The boy at the far end of the row was sleeping again. Poe had visited infirmaries plenty of times, had been inside them more often than he cared to count, but seeing these kids here and knowing that Hux was not willing to put any more of them in danger than necessary when his superior officer was, made Poe want to commandeer the bridge and drag this ship off to fight Pryde in person. Accidents happened, and it was terrible when they did, but knowing they might happen again and taking no precautions to prevent them, even inviting them to happen again, was unbearable. “You too, fellas,” he said to the boys, forcing another smile, his stomach twisting into a painful knot at the thought that this ship might be under attack at any given moment and that these kids were trapped here as well as him and Hux and every other sentient being on the <em>Vengeance.</em></p><p>“How many kids are there onboard?” Poe asked quietly when he and Hux were out in the corridor again his throat dry as sandpaper.</p><p>Hux’s eyes flickered to him briefly and his jaw tightened. “Does it matter?” he retorted after a brief moment’s hesitation. “They are here.”</p><p>“They’re cadets, right? How many? Do you train all of your future officers and Stormtroopers aboard ships?”</p><p>Another short pause, one in which Hux started walking again, without looking back. Had he brought Poe here for this? To show him these fragile children and make him feel… what? Sorry? Angry? “There are enough,” Hux finally said, only stopping when Poe caught up with him and grabbed his sleeve.</p><p>“Hux.”</p><p>“Dameron?”</p><p>Poe bit his lip. His heart was starting to race again. “You brought me here to… what?”</p><p>“I visit frequently, on a set schedule, Dameron, do not feel you are under special treatment only because you accompanied me on this short trip.” Hux’s eyes were cool as they looked down on Poe, and somehow Poe couldn’t find any deceit in that look. Superiority, arrogance, yes. But no lies.</p><p>“So what about my question.”</p><p>“Why do you want to know?”</p><p>“Do you want me to understand the Order when I talk to the Republic, or do you want me to go in blindly?”</p><p>Hux’s jaw tightened. “Let us go back to my office.”</p><p>Poe let out a long breath. “Fine,” he breathed. “I don’t appreciate being dragged around like a dog though.”</p><p>At this Hux’s lips actually twitched into a brief smile for a moment and his eyes travelled briefly to Poe’s crotch, before moving up again. “Interesting picture.” The smile vanished as quickly as it had come. “Remember I told you, you could just as well return to your quarters.”</p><p>“My cell.”</p><p>“Very well, your cell. You chose to accompany me. If you prefer to know about the cadets, however, you have to come with me again.”</p><p>Poe let out a long breath and he finally let go of Hux’s sleeve. “You are a very complicated man.”</p><p>“I disagree,” Hux shook his head and started walking again, Poe following in his wake.</p><p>“Of course you’d disagree.” And he probably wasn’t at all wrong. Hux was as straightforward as they came. He might be hard to read at times, though that might be a problem Poe would have to deal with himself. Because there were so many facets of Hux. Facets which he couldn’t even begin to grasp and put together to make one picture. And he wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to think of Hux as a complex person. Complicated, yes. Complex… that would mean too many difficulties in the long-run. Poe wasn’t entirely sure he didn’t prefer being baffled, although he was pretty sure he was already well on his way of diving head-long into a very complicated scenario with this man.</p><p>Hux raised an elegant eyebrow at him as they entered the turbolift. “We do not have much time until the report from the TIEs is due.”</p><p>“Fine by me… so… so this Ascendancy… it’s really that dangerous?”</p><p>“Another change of topic?”</p><p>“Why not?”</p><p>Hux cleared his throat and shook his head. “They are a threat, yes.” He pressed the topmost button in the display and the lift doors closed in front of them, cutting off the view of the infirmary with the badly wounded cadets. “Approximately forty years ago they sent an officer by the name of Mitth’raw’nuruodo as a spy to the Galactic Empire to assess its strength. When the Empire fell, Mitth’raw’nuruodo had already returned to his people, and the Chiss started attacking us the moment we came to the Unknown Regions. It took us years to fight them back and secure systems fit for human habitation and to free those systems from Chiss domination.”</p><p>“Oh come one, you’re making that up.”</p><p>Hux looked at the closed doors in front of them and shook his head briefly. “I am not.” He clasped his hands behind his back once more. This position was almost second nature to him. “The Chiss Ascendancy is a force to be reckoned with. If they detect a weakness they will exploit it.”</p><p>“Not so different from your fabulous Order…” Poe mumbled, finally making Hux glare at him again.</p><p>“Or your Republic.”</p><p>“Oh, come on, Hux, the Republic never abducted kids or killed their parents just to prove a point, it never attacked civilians or-“ Hux’s head snapped around and his glare made Poe feel like he was about to choke on his own words. There it was again. That trace of vulnerability only barely hidden by anger which caused Poe’s ribcage to shrink in on itself. It was gone again in the blink of an eye and next second the doors of the turbolift opened again.</p><p>Hux’s chest heaved once and he stood even more upright before he turned to face his office door again. The usual compliment of Stormtroopers was flanking it. They really had waited for them here and they appeared to be staring into nothingness, their armour gleaming in the bright, unforgiving light. Had they been wounded down on the planet, would they be taken care of like the cadets? Probably not.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Hux shook his head and strode forward, his long legs carrying him over to the door which slid open instantly to reveal the office as pristine and as impersonal as ever. “Are you even aware on what the First Order was built?” Hux prompted once they were alone again.</p><p>“Oh, come on, don’t start with that again.”</p><p>“With what?” Hux snapped. “With the truth?”</p><p>“You told me yourself the older officers were the problem here.” He didn’t believe one word of it. The Order, no matter how much Hux told him it cared for its people, was nothing but a machine, doing everything it could to survive. “Now you’re trying to glorify how it all-“</p><p>“No!” Hux snapped again. He had his back turned to him, hands clasped so firmly Poe could hear the leather creak. “No, I will not glorify them. A few of them envisioned the future of the Empire as it should be: a proper, reformed government that should bring order and peace to the galaxy, some only sought to relive their days of glory…” He paused and after taking a long breath, his shoulders relaxed ever so slightly. After another, he slowly turned around. “My father and Pryde among them. Those characters are the ones we need to look out for.”</p><p><em>We.</em> There it was. The reminder of the truce they had struck. A reminder that didn’t make Poe want to recoil anymore. He really was a fool that way. Hux was still dangerous. But he wasn’t his enemy. Not entirely. Poe crossed his arms over his chest. “So you said before. Doesn’t change the fact-“</p><p>“That the New Republic forced us out of their precious territory as soon as they could. What do you think how many <em>civilians</em> died when Coruscant was retaken. How many perished when Arkanis was overrun and the Imperial Academy was bombed?”</p><p>Poe grit his teeth. So they were about to weigh their losses? To compare which party had lost more? He was about to retort that none of this was justification for destroying Alderaan, or Kijimi or the entire damn Hosnian system, when he caught the slight flicker in Hux’s eyes before the other turned to stand behind his desk again. A flicker Poe couldn’t read, until he saw that Hux was typing on his datapad with one hand, but that the other was still clutched tightly. Hux had been born on Arkanis.</p><p>Poe felt his own shoulders relax slightly. “What happened on Arkanis?” he found himself asking. A question he wouldn’t have asked before their night spent together. But he wanted to know.</p><p>Hux shook his head. “It is of no importance.” His voice was softer then, lower. There was no emotion deep set into it, no grief, no anger, just the plain statement, spoken with a nonchalance that appeared like it had been hammered into him. “The fact remains, that every single person who is now in the Order was refused aid by your high and mighty New Republic. They attacked the Imperial Academy, killing nearly every single person in the vicinity and after the battle of Jakku, they hunted us down, driving us into the Unknown Regions where we had to face another enemy.” He looked up then. If anything, he was paler than usual and though Poe had always known the history, this different phrasing, coming from a man this ruthless, who had still allowed himself to be vulnerable, if only for a short moment, made his insides churn. “An enemy who would end up nearly destroying us, until we found allies and footing.” Hux grit his teeth and with one more tap of his finger, the holo of a <em>Resurgent</em>-class Star Destroyer. “And, no, there are no civilians in the Order now, and for good reason.”</p><p>Yes, Poe thought. They probably had good reason. A group of military refugees had to organize themselves properly and be ready to fight at any moment. Small wonder this organization was strictly hierarchical. There was security in hierarchy and order. Poe knew enough about that. His own father still strictly adhered to a daily schedule, getting up at the same time every day, sure to keep everything in the house and on the farm in perfect order. His father, unlike Hux, or anybody else in the Order, had retired from military life though. And even Finn had always kept everything neat and tidy, even though he proudly stood by the Resistance and had started challenging authority the moment he deserted from the Order. It made sense that the Order remained strictly military. It made sense that they thought little of civilian lives lost, when they themselves had all been denied the right to be just that: civilians.</p><p>“Hux,” he began and cleared his throat, but Hux didn’t look up again. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the rotating holo in front of him. “Hux, you have to see that this won’t make me condone anything the Order’s done.” <em>Anything you’ve done.</em> The words hung in the air for a moment, hovering between them like a palpable barrier. And when Hux looked up at him, he saw something else. Something that brought another explosion to mind. An explosion that wiped another planet with thousands of people on it. An explosion that he, Poe had caused. But that had been war… an attack on a base that would be used to kill more people in the long run. He swallowed hard. “Guess it doesn’t make sense to add up the deaths on both sides.” Or other acts of inhumanity for that matter… none of it mattered anymore. Finn would strongly disagree. Hell, he disagreed on some level, but there was no denying that things were different now and it mattered little to dwell on things that couldn’t be changed anyway, no matter how desperately he wished he could.</p><p>“No,” Hux said, still a slightly bitter tone to his voice.</p><p>Poe shook his head and leaned against the table, eyes trained on the ship as well. “So… we were talking numbers here.”</p><p>“Yes.” Hux actually smiled at that as he rotated the holo of the Star Destroyer in front of them. He pointed to the lower midsection adjacent to one of the main hangar bays. “These are the Stormtrooper barracks, directly adjacent to the main hangar.” He moved his finger slightly to the right. “Training facilities for Stormtroopers and cadets training to be officers are directly adjacent.”</p><p>“How do you decide who becomes a Stormtrooper and who a cadet?” Poe frowned.</p><p>“Aptitude tests at the age of three. Of course, some Stormtroopers may be promoted to officer later in life.” He looked at Poe. “Your friend FN-2187 was headed in that direction before he deserted.”</p><p>“Finn told me,” Poe said through gritted teeth. The letters and the numbers instead of the name was still hard to bear. He cleared his throat.</p><p>“Finn…” Hux let out a long breath as he shook his head. “Fine.” A brief pause. One pregnant with tension. Then he continued. ”There are roughly three thousand Stormtroopers in training and cadets onboard.”</p><p>Three thousand… Poe nodded. “How… how do you get your hands on them? The kids?”</p><p>“I told you,” Hux said.</p><p>“Yeah, you buy them.”</p><p>“That may not be the term I would have used, but yes. Most of the time, the parents are reimbursed, but some of the children were orphans of war of course.”</p><p>Orphans of war. And what did that mean exactly? Poe didn’t know what to make of this or what to think. “So what were you?” Poe prompted instead. Talking about Hux was easier than talking about the thousands of children being forced into the Order. Being forced to become killers.</p><p>“Neither,” Hux said tensely. “I was among the first new recruits after Arkanis fell.” And of course his position had made it possible for him to climb the ladder more easily. How fortunate he had been. At least he didn’t flaunt his good fortune into the face of the people who served him, and yet… “What?” Hux prompted, making Poe shake his head uneasily.</p><p>“Nothing.” Poe shook his head. “Just trying to make sense of it all.” There were still a billion questions running through his mind, but there probably wasn’t a whole lot of time to ask them all before the next series of events hit them like a mallet.</p><p>“Of what, Dameron?”</p><p>“You,” Poe said bluntly. “Like I said…”</p><p>“Yes, you believe I am a complicated man.”</p><p>“No, I think you prefer remaining a mystery, but you’re not very good at lying. Doesn’t help that you keep dropping hints.”</p><p>Hux snorted and shook his head. “Only because I am no friend of sharing every detail of my life-“</p><p>“See? A few days ago you insisted we weren’t friends.” Poe almost laughed.</p><p>“Are you suggesting we are friends now?”</p><p>“No.” Poe shook his head. “This isn’t friendship.” He didn’t think he <em>could</em> be friends with Hux, but there was something else between them that was hard to deny. Maybe it was a shared sense of dread, or just the situation that had thrown them together, but things were more complicated than that. There was certainly an attraction which Poe would never have believed could exist. Attraction and tension and, well, call it lust, but it was there, and Poe remembered all too well the warmth of Hux’s embrace and the tenderness with which Hux’s fingers had combed through his hair. The previous night had been more than just two strangers having sex. “But I have to admit, I don’t detest you as much as I’d like.”</p><p>Slowly, Hux raised his eyes from the holo. “What a compliment,” Hux said, his gaze drifting over Poe’s face, briefly lingering on his mouth. Was there a trace of a smile on his own face? Poe couldn’t be sure. “I feel less inclined to kill you myself.”</p><p>“Wow.” Poe nodded once. “I wouldn’t have gone that far.” He managed a smile. A smile that Hux returned. A smile that lit up Hux’s face. A smile that made Poe reach out and touch Hux’s arm.</p><p>“That is a very bad idea,” Hux said quietly when Poe found himself leaning in again. Damn this man.</p><p>Damn this man and damn it all. “If there’s one thing I’ve found out these past few days, it’s that you may not be a completely terrible person after all. It’s disturbing.”</p><p>“If it’s disturbing, I suggest you let me go.”</p><p>Poe’s hand slid down Hux’s arm to close around his wrist.</p><p>“Dameron…”</p><p>“Come on, it’s not like we haven’t done this before.”</p><p>And there it was. Hux reaching out for him, putting his hand on Poe’s stomach and stepping closer. He took a long, trembling breath as he leaned his forehead against Poe’s. “I wonder what is making you do this.”</p><p>“What’s making <em>me</em> do this?” Poe laughed briefly. Their lips were so close now, it would have been so easy to kiss him. This man, who would do all he could to rescue kids from a pile of rubble. Who walked between his officers, encouraging them just with his presence. Who spent time with the wounded. Who had saved him and Finn and Chewie once. No matter Hux’s ulterior motives, Poe couldn’t quite forget that either. Poe’s mouth was dry, his lips itching with the need to touch Hux’s. “You’re playing along.”</p><p>Hux didn’t reply, but his breath hit Poe’s lips wonderfully warm and promising. His fingers slid along Poe’s belt, fumbling with the polished bright buckle.</p><p>“Didn’t you just say this was a bad idea?”</p><p>Hux’s nose touched his, only a brief touch, before Hux took a step back, looking over at the door. A door which might open at any moment. “I’ve been meaning to give this to you,” Hux said, reaching into his pocket. He wasn’t looking at Poe anymore, but at the floor. It truly was a sight Poe hadn’t expected.</p><p>And then Hux withdrew his hand from his pocket, his fingers closed tightly around something. Something attached to a long silver chain. Without a word he held his hand out to Poe, still not facing him.</p><p>The silver ring which had once belonged to his mother was lying in the outstretched palm. Shiny silver against black leather and Poe’s heart stuttered when he saw it there. His mother’s ring. So it wasn’t lost. It hadn’t been destroyed. And Hux had kept it from him. For a second anger flared up in his chest, anger powerful enough to make Poe want to push Hux against the viewport and take the ring. But then he saw the slight flush on Hux’s cheeks as he deliberately tried not to look at Poe and the sudden wave ebbed away. Slowly he lifted the ring out of Hux hand and put the chain around his neck, fingers clasped tightly around the familiar object that still held some of Hux’s warmth. “Thank you,” he said hoarsely and Hux’s eyes fluttered briefly to his. “This was my mother’s.”</p><p>Hux didn’t reply. Instead, he dropped his hand and was on the verge of turning away, when Poe reached out to him, catching his face between his hands. Hux didn’t have to do this. He didn’t have to keep the ring, or give it back to him. He could have used it to put pressure on him. To get something off him, because, of course it was valuable to Poe. But he hadn’t. Instead, he’d used it to put distance between them. To keep his vulnerability to himself. The many images of Hux seemed to draw closer together. To start forming a picture. A picture that made Poe almost accept the coldness and the vicious taunts.</p><p>Hux’s eyes returned his gaze. Steely. Unreadable. That expression from the gym and from the dejarik games again. And yet, he didn’t pull away, or tell Poe to take a step back. He didn’t move. Not even when Poe’s thumbs traced his cheekbones or when Poe leaned in, their lips finally, touching. Just barely more than a tickle of skin against skin. Just a fraction of a second of it when the door chimes echoed through the room again and Hux took a step back.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So close. SO CLOSE!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Chapter 23</h2></a>
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</p><p>“Sir, we have been unable to establish contact with our fighters.” The woman behind the console shook her head at him while Tormac was still standing by the main viewport, determinedly not looking at them. There was something about his posture that made Hux wary, and the look Tormac had given Dameron gave several hints as to why Tormac was on edge. “But the ships blocking our signals have started moving towards us. They are moving faster than even the TIEs.”</p><p>             Hux’s eyes drifted to off into space and the red and dark grey matter of dust and debris standing between them and their only way out. Five ships. All of them heavily armed and moving in their direction. “Can you confirm the TIEs have been destroyed?”</p><p>             “No, Sir. We managed to pick up a single, brief transmission before the contact broke off.” She nodded at her console and Hux approached her carefully, fully aware of Dameron’s presence right by his side. Dameron, who hadn’t spoken a word since Lieutenant Bralsey had interrupted them. The young woman pulled up the image which the TIE squadron’s leader had managed to transmit and Hux suppressed a curse. There was nothing sleek about the shape of this ship. It was bulky, the two main engines on its sides giving the impression of something less than manoeuvrable. An impression that was more than misleading.</p><p>             “Is it them?” Hux heard Dameron ask behind him.</p><p>             With a curt nod, Hux looked at the data which had been transmitted along with the image. By these estimates the ship was slightly smaller than a Star Destroyer, but there were five of them, and the Chiss were excellent in combat and their navigation in these regions was far superior to the Order’s. “Yes,” Hux said. He could not allow the Chiss to see these shipwrecks, or find out about the kyber. If the Ascendancy found out about the recent battle, then the rest of the galaxy would find itself in a war unlike anything it had seen since the last one. He turned away from the young Lieutenant and raised his voice. “Move out to meet them,” he said curtly, “Two TIEs squadrons as a escort. We will not let the Chiss through.” Immediately the officers jumped into action. Hux could sense the tension rising in the way the air seemed to vibrate around them without getting out of control.</p><p>             “They just destroyed one of your squadrons easily enough,” Dameron said quietly, his voice drawing the attention of the young Lieutenant easily enough. She frowned up at him. She, unlike those young cadets, knew of course who he was. That he was a prisoner. A prisoner who, for some reason, was constantly accompanying their commander. Who was ot treated like a prisoner, but who instead wore a General’s uniform.</p><p>             But Dameron appeared to be less perturbed by that look than Hux was. “How did they know this was a good time to attack?”</p><p>             Hux shook off his doubts. For now Dameron’s position onboard was not one he could worry about. And he had posed a good question, one Hux had asked himself. “I do not know,” he answered briefly, sidestepping Dameron to stand by the viewport, hands clasped firmly behind his back. Down there on the surface lay what was left of their fleet. Resources gone to waste. And who could say if they would soon be little more than dust in space themselves.</p><p>             “What’s your plan?”</p><p>             Hux grit his teeth. “You may have noticed on your approach that there is not a lot of room to manoeuvre in the narrow passage through which you can safely reach the planet.</p><p>             “Yeah, it was tricky.”</p><p>             “Yes, well the passage is narrow enough that we may stand a chance of holding them off.”</p><p>             “Hold them off…” Dameron shook his head. “If their ships are that dangerous, we should get out of here.”</p><p>             Hux shook his head. “No. For one, we can’t get past them. And on the other hand we can’t leave only for them to take the planet. Not with the current resources or the remnants of technology still down there.” He lowered his voice. “You or I may not like it, but the kyber safer in the hands of the Order than in the hands of her enemies.”</p><p>             Dameron let out a long breath his eyes darted from the image of the ship on the console behind them to the viewport, where the dark grey surface of Exegol was still visible. Within seconds it would be gone from sight. The gentle hum of the engines coming to live fully made Hux’s stomach twist and as he watched the surface seem to turn away from them, he refused to look at Dameron too. He didn’t need to ask to know what was going on in the other man’s mind. Clearly he didn’t think the Ascendancy could be a real threat to his Republic, and he obviously didn’t mind them finding out more about this planet. A planet which, by all means, was so well hidden that only Ren with that wayfinder had managed to get them all here.</p><p>             With a frown, Hux finally turned to face Dameron. “How did you find this place? No scouts were detected before your fleet arrived.”</p><p>             Dameron ignored the bustle surrounding them. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the clouds of dust and debris hiding the few stars visible from this location in the middle of nowhere draw closer. “Rey,” he said curtly. “She sent us signals. A clear path we could follow.”</p><p>             The scavenger again. She and Ren were responsible for this disaster then. Clearly, the Ascendancy had picked up the trail as well. But before Hux could express his dismay, Dameron turned to look at him again. “What?”</p><p>             Annoyed with himself, Hux shook his head. He was better at hiding his emotions. Usually that was no issue, but with Dameron letting this well rehearsed mask fall was easier than he cared to admit. Even in this place. And Dameron had been on the brink of reading him. He knew that he had been. It couldn’t happen again. Armitage Hux had not spent all his life learning to hide his feelings and thoughts only to have his walls broken down by this hot shot pilot. If he could manage to hide his activities as a spy for the enemy from Kylo Ren, then surely Poe Dameron could pose no real threat. “Do you think there is the slightest possibility that path might have been picked up by somebody else? Somebody other than your Resistance?”</p><p>             “Well, yeah, that was the whole point.”</p><p>             “Now this plan has brought the Chiss Ascendancy upon us. Good job.” He bit back another comment. He didn’t care that he wasn’t being fair – he couldn’t afford to care, but he couldn’t resist that little sting. Not that <em>Dameron</em> cared. He shook it off like all the others.</p><p>             “How very convenient to blame this fiasco on someone else,” Dameron said, and then added, echoing Hux: “Good job.”</p><p>             “Sir?” Tormac had approached them again, was now standing right next to Dameron. “Would you like me to return this… man to his cell now?”</p><p>             Hux raised an eyebrow at Tormac and for the fraction of a second he saw a muscle in Dameron’s cheek twitch at the wording. “Captain?” Hux prompted, fully aware that other officers surrounding them were looking at the three of them standing by the viewport. He sensed that Tormac had been on the verge of shrouding another insult in that comment, but he hadn’t been entirely sure how to phrase it. Had it become this obvious that he and Dameron were on more than speaking terms?</p><p>             “General,” Tormac nodded curtly and Hux could practically see the tension cursing through him as he raised his chin and refused to look at Dameron. He knew he had gone too far and Hux knew there were only two ways with which he could now handle the situation: give up and lock Dameron up for good to appease this petty man who clearly favoured Pryde’s command, or push back with all his might. He needed the loyalty of this crew. He needed Dameron, too.</p><p>             “This man wears the same uniform I do for a reason,” Hux said calmly, his voice deliberately icy, fully aware that with these words he was giving up more hold over Dameron than he meant to. The man could be dangerous, and Hux was making it easier for him to make his own life a living hell if things went wrong. But he doubted they would. Dameron might be impulsive, but not stupid. “He is not only a guest of the Final Order, but our ally and will be treated as such at all times. Is that understood?” There it was. Either him officially admitting defeat by giving even a bit of power back to Dameron, or he had put Tormac into his place easily enough. Hux was not a gambler, but at this precise moment he needed loyalties and authority. Giving in to Tormac would not have gotten him either. He could only hope Dameron really was on his side by now. Somehow Hux doubted one single night spent together had done the trick.</p><p>             Tormac turned even paler, his eyes widening for a moment, before he nodded. “Yes, Sir. Apologies.”</p><p>             Hux balled one hand into a fist, fully aware that the entire bridge was watching them. What a moment to pick for a conversation like this. “Good,” Hux held back a sneer, but stood upright and turned to look out the viewport again, when he wanted nothing more than to look at Dameron, or at least back at his crew. A crew which only slowly turned back their attention to the work at hand.</p><p>             Slowly, Tormac turned away to talk with the Stormtrooper commander. Out of the corner of his eye, Hux saw that the skin on Tormac’s neck had turned scarlet. This could become a problem, Hux thought. A serious one, if he wasn’t careful about it all. Tormac even speaking up against Dameron’s presence might be nothing but an urge to do something proactive, but it might also mean hostility. Hux would have to keep a close look on him.</p><p>             “So, I’m <em>officially</em> an ally now?” Dameron prompted with a suspicious twinkle in his eye and in a voice so low Hux could barely pick it up. “What’s next? Arranged marriage to strengthen that alliance even more? Or to keep me from running out on you?”</p><p>             With a scoff, Hux took a step to the side so he could be closer to Tameron and make sure Dameron heard <em>him.</em> It was probably not a good call to stand so closely together, but he thought he could risk it for a few moments, if only to make Tormac nervous. “You think too much of yourself,” he whispered in return. “Don’t think-“</p><p>             “Oh, I won’t be able to stop thinking.”</p><p>             When their eyes met again, Hux felt that familiar pang in his chest again and he quickly returned to his previous position. He simply could not allow for Dameron to become more of a distraction than he already was. Instead, he watched as the ship slowly moved towards the vortex of dust and debris and the single path leading out of this system.</p><p>             Battle was coming. And he would have to keep a clear head for that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Whoopsie, another cliffhanger. I wanted this chapter to be longer, but I decided to post this bit earlier in the hope that you enjoy this prelude to our first space battle.... ooooh boy. What am I DOING HERE?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Chapter 24</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>Flashes of green and blue weaved in and out of the maelstrom of dark red debris and Hux felt his heart skip a beat every time one of their TIEs got too close to one of the remnants of the former planets. This was no mere asteroid field, but a collection of rubble blurred out by static. Their pilots were excellent, but so were the Chiss, and the enemy had come prepared.</p><p>             “One Ascendancy war ship is down, Sir,” the Lieutenant said behind him as he stood there, looking at the display which showed little to nothing of their surroundings. That meant their two small squadrons had managed to take out one of the ships. But already their losses were piling up and the first Ascendancy ship was far too close.</p><p>             “Still no sign of their fighters?” Tormac prompted and Hux felt Dameron stiffen by his side. Dameron was on edge, had been for the past half hour and ever since the battle had ensued.</p><p>             “No, Captain.” Mitaka was hovering a few feet behind them as they tried to follow the battle on this pitiful display. Their sensors were next to useless in here and whenever Hux looked out the viewport and his eyes started burning from the blood red light, he couldn’t help but think that maybe they should have stayed on Exegol after all, at least in direct orbit they had some space to manoeuvre.</p><p>             “One more TIE down,” another Lieutenant said. That made five. Five too many.</p><p>             With a furrowed brow, Hux let out a long breath. “Get two more squadrons ready as back-up.” He knew Ren would have demanded to send them all out, to try and inflict as much damage as possible with a single blow. “Ready ventral canons.”</p><p>             “Yes, Sir, bringing them online”</p><p>             Tormac shifted uncomfortably, but Hux ignored him. He was fully aware that without sensors at full capacity it was downright dangerous for their own pilots to bring them up, but there was little else to be done. At least with the ventral canons they had a chance at aiming at a moving target in this area of hell.</p><p>             “Chiss fighter detected,” another officer said, almost shouting in panic. “Two clicks away.”</p><p>             Hux’s head whirled around. “How?” he barked, marching over to the older man’s station. Sweat was on the brightly pink skin. Their sensors might be impaired, but surely not this badly?</p><p>             “I can’t tell, Sir.”</p><p>             Hux swallowed hard. “Find out, he hissed.“ His eyes roamed over the display, and there it was. On the display only mere inches away from their own ship. Too far away from the TIEs already engaged in battle. And then ten more dots appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Hux gritted his teeth as he looked out the viewport, at the cloud of gas from which the enemy ships now raced towards them, firing one salvo after the other, already weakening the <em>Vengeance’s </em>shields.</p><p>             The ship shuddered beneath his feet as the first Chiss ship’s barrage hit the side of the bridge.</p><p>             “TIEs launching.”</p><p>             Throat tight, Hux watched the dots signifying their own ships take flight from one of the main hangars to join the fray. The pilots were expertly trained. They would do as well as they could for as long as they could.</p><p>             “General, someone is hailing us from that ship.”</p><p>             Hux’s head whipped around. Of course the officer at the communication station looked barely old enough to have graduated from the cadet program. Who had cleared her for duty on the bridge? She didn’t even know the proper cues. “The Chiss ship?” he prompted, barely holding back a bark.</p><p>             “Yes, Sir.”</p><p>             Hux moved back to the centre of the walkway, eyes fixed on the one enemy ship clearly in view. Their TIEs were fluttering around its portside like mosquitoes, while the squadrons they had released just now were doing their best to keep the enemy fighters at bay. “Put them through.”</p><p>             Dameron shifted behind him and when Hux turned around he saw him brush a hand through his hair as he stared at the tactical display showing the blurred and disrupted proceedings of the battle. The ship gave anther violent shudder.  Out of the corner of his eye Hux saw on another display that shields were down to eighty percent of their capacity. His stomach twisted painfully. If this was their last stand, then so be it. At least they weren’t responsible for the next war that would shatter this galaxy into another thousand tiny pieces.</p><p>             And then the image of a tall female looking figure appeared a few feet in front of him. Hux’s mind raced as he tried to place the face, comparing the sharp lines with images he had learned in his youth. Faces he didn’t think he’d ever have to dig out again. But there it was. The problem was, there was next to no saying how old that alien in front of him was. There were no visible lines, but that might be due to the poor quality of the connection, or because Chiss aged differently. He cursed himself for not researching that when he had the time. Every little detail counted.</p><p>             “This is Commander Che’ri of the Ascendancy Fleet. First Order vessel, we demand your immediate surrender.”</p><p>             Another painful twist of his stomach just as one of their TIEs burst into flame and vanished into nothingness. “This is General Hux of the First Order,” he responded, his voice carefully controlled. “You have entered Final Order space. We demand that you pull back immediately.”</p><p>             The commander’s eyebrows rose. Her eyes looked almost entirely black in the blue holo. “Do you, General? May I remind you that you have no backup to speak of? Surrender now and you and your crew may be allowed to live.”</p><p>             Hux balled his hands into fists. Surrender was out of the question. And he couldn’t allow himself to think of the people onboard. He turned his head and signalled to the communications officer to turn off the transmission. This was a waste of time. His throat was tight as he looked at Tormac, whose steely gaze was fixed on him. “Ready the remaining squadrons. Fire at will.”</p><p>             “They know how you operate,” Dameron said quietly, standing up, hands on his hips. When he looked at Hux again, he couldn’t help but think that, at least his last night in this galaxy hadn’t been a complete waste. Maybe it had been foolish and frivolous, but not insane. Not entirely.</p><p>             “And no surprise. They’ve been dealing with you for years, right?”</p><p>             “What are you saying?”</p><p>             “I’m saying, they don’t know <em>me</em>.” The way Dameron was looking at him made it impossible to move or even to look anywhere else but at him. Everything else seemed to blur out. The noises around them, the fact that one of the officers announced that their communications array had been hit. The way the ship seemed to groan under the barrage of enemy weapons fire when the Chiss ship opened fire. And then the ventral canons were fired. For a brief moment Hux allowed himself to follow the missiles being fired until they were lost in the clouds and the debris. Who could say which ship they hit in the end.</p><p>             Dameron pointed at the screen and the young officer looked at him with wide eyes. “They anticipate each and every single one of your manoeuvres. They’re picking your pilots off one by one. Let me take out their canons at least. I can do it, maybe cause some more damage.”</p><p>             Hux felt an icy shudder run down his spine. Dameron was right. This was a battle they could not win. He threw a look at Tormac standing behind him, Mitaka only a few feet away. Tormac might be a thorn in his side at this particular moment, but he was in the right position here aboard the bridge. Behind the two of them, between the swirls of dark red and black and the hull of the enemy ship Hux spotted one of their TIEs being hit and tumble into the side of one of the Ascendancy ships. He balled his hands into fists. One more soldier down. One more life lost when they needed every single one. And maybe Dameron was an acceptable loss.</p><p>             No.</p><p>No, he was not.</p><p>Hux needed him, and, loathe though he was to admit it, he did not hate his company. And if Dameron succeeded, then they might be well on their way to different shores.</p><p>If Dameron succeeded.</p><p>Which was highly questionable.</p><p>             “Tell the squad leaders General Dameron will be leading the assault.” He waved at Dameron to follow him and then strode along the walkway, past officers looking up at him almost timidly, towards the door. And Dameron was there. Hux could hear his footsteps right behind him, felt his presence, so close to him they almost touched. Once in the turbo lift, Hux, hit the button that put them both in limbo between one deck and the next.</p><p>             “What?”</p><p>             Slowly Hux turned around to look at him. Another shudder ran through the ship. They were being taken apart. There was no time for discussions. None at all. “Why did you put me in front a fait accompli, Dameron?”</p><p>             Dameron took half a step back, his eyes wide.</p><p>             “I elevated your status aboard this ship, and a mere half an hour later you force me to do this. Why?”</p><p>             “I’m no forcing you to do anythi- oh.” Dameron shook his head and let out a long breath. The cramped space appeared to become smaller with every second that passed. “You’re saying you didn’t have a choice to deny me, because otherwise you would’ve looked foolish in front of that sour-looking captain.” The winking and the half-hearted grin were infuriating.</p><p>             “Dameron,” Hux growled, hating that his voice sounded that much higher than he would have liked.</p><p>             “Don’t worry, I’m not running off in one of your fancy-ass Special Forces TIEs.”</p><p>             Hux’s stomach plummeted. He hadn’t even thought of that. But now that Dameron had mentioned it, he couldn’t help but think of just that. Of Dameron taking off. Of Dameron leaving him to deal with this mess alone. He felt the cool metal of the knife in his sleeve pressing against his skin when Dameron clasped his hand around his wrist. “I trusted you, now it’s your turn.”</p><p>             When had Dameron ever trusted him? The hands squeezed his wrists for a moment, their faces so close together Hux could feel the tip of Dameron’s nose pressed up against his. “We don’t have time for this,” Hux said quietly. He could practically hear the enemy fighters rushing past the <em>Vengeance’s </em>hull. The pilots were waiting. Everything was hanging by a thread.</p><p>             “No, we don’t,” Dameron said, pushing him up hard against the wall, their hips practically colliding and Hux felt the bulge pressed up against his cock. “I’m coming back, okay?” Dameron’s eyes stared into his. Hard and unblinking. “I am, I promise.”</p><p>             “Don’t,” Hux began, his voice barely more than a whisper before Dameron’s mouth was on his and the world seemed to come crashing down on him.</p><p>             Dameron smelled so good. So incredibly good, it was almost enough do drive every other thought clean from his mind. His lips, warm and soft against Hux’s made him moan in anticipation. It was so easy to give in, if only for a moment, to let the feeling of soft caresses overwhelm him. To taste Dameron’s breath as Dameron put his hands on either side of his face. Coarse fingers against his temples. Holding him in place as all he could do was stand there and let it happen.</p><p>             <em>Let go</em>, Hux told himself,<em> just this once</em>. Already he was leaning in, returning the kiss tentatively, his hands on Dameron’s sides, heart thumping wildly as his entire body went tense as it went along, as his lips parted to allow Dameron’s tongue to caress his own.</p><p>And then it was over. Dameron leaned back his head and his thumb stroked over Hux’s cheek.</p><p>             “Allies, remember?”</p><p>             “That’s not what I meant,” Hux found himself saying.</p><p>             Dameron only nodded, then reached for his collar and pulled the silver chain out from underneath it before he hit the button that set the turbolift in motion again. “I bet it wasn’t,” he said and placed the ring with the chain in Armitage’s hand. “Hang onto that, will you?”</p><p>             And then the doors of the turbolift slid open and Dameron was gone, leaving Hux in the lift. Panting, his heart hammering so wildly he felt it beating against his chest as he stared at the bright panels opposite him, his right hand clutching the ring.</p><p> </p><p>From the moment Dameron’s squadrons launched from the fighter bay, the battle became more heated. Hux stood on the bridge, his hands clasped tightly behind his back, refusing to acknowledge the fact that they had lost shields with the last impact of an Ascendancy ship colliding with their underside.</p><p>             It was the last hit the <em>Vengeance</em> had to take.</p><p>             Dameron was an excellent pilot. Hux had always known it, though, of course these daredevil manoeuvres looked downright insane. But he had learned some time ago that Dameron alone in a starfighter, was a force to be reckoned with. Put a group of skilled pilots under his command, and this insane idea became downright brilliant.</p><p>             “I’ve never seen someone fly like this,” Tormac muttered and Hux nodded once, recalling the events over D’Qar when Dameron had single-handedly taken out every single canon of their Dreadnaught. And though that battle had left the Rebel fleet crippled, Hux hadn’t forgotten with which skill Dameron had eliminated one threat after the other without getting hit once.</p><p>             He watched, unblinking, as a single TIE weaved in and out of the clouds, the style uncanny. Risky and completely confident at the same time. None of their pilots flew like that. None felt confident enough to break formation like that. To take on enemies single-handed like this.</p><p>             Within minutes the Ascendance fighters had been driven away from the <em>Vengeance </em>and then, finally, their own TIEs were on the offence, the Star Destroyer’s canons finally able to attack the first Acendancy ship.</p><p>             “He’s attacking that second one all on his own.”</p><p>             Hux nodded again, his mouth parched. Of course Dameron was doing that. At least the communication between the TIEs seemed to be operational again, or three at least would have followed Dameron as per standard procedure. Hux felt his stomach twist as an enemy laser bolt almost grazed Dameron’s TIE, his fist closing around the metal object in his hand.</p><p>             He couldn’t see Dameron anymore, couldn’t see the other Ascendancy ship, the one Dameron was attacking single-handedly, but he knew, <em>he just knew</em> that Dameron was alright. He could feel it in his gut. Dameron knew what he was doing, and he had been the best pilot in the Resistance.</p><p>             What in the name of all the stars was wrong with him? Why was it that the mere thought of Dameron getting hurt in all of this made him feel numb? And not, he had to admit that much to himself, because he needed him to destroy Pryde or the old guard, but because of something else. Something that seemed to rest heavily on his chest, making it nearly impossible to breathe.</p><p>             And then it happened. There was a bright flash behind the foremost ship, throwing the clunky Ascendancy ship into sharp relief and next second the lights on the <em>Vengeance’s</em> bridge went out when the shockwave hit her. The ship which had hailed them veered off course, her hull flurrying with static before it collided with one of the bigger asteroids. The ship behind it was gone already, nothing left of it but debris.</p><p>             Emergency power came on within seconds and Hux didn’t need to hear the officer behind him announcing that their sensors at least were back online. That the two remaining Ascendancy ships were turning tail and heading back out. Leaving them crippled and helpless, but finally alone. No doubt they would be back, however. And they would have to get repairs underway as quickly as possible. “Finish it,” Hux said, eyes fixed on the ship still struggling. For a second he considered waiting until their comms too were back online. Just to rub the Order’s victory in Commander Che’ri’s face. But no. It was just a waste of time and resources. He was not that petty. He didn’t need to be.</p><p>             He took a deep breath as he watched the ventral canons being fired and the missiles hitting the ship which was already bleeding out. No escape pods. No survivors. Already there were too many people left to tell the tale.</p><p>             He would have to make a decision on what to do next, and quickly before the Chiss returned with more reinforcements. Preferably the <em>Vengeance</em> was well away by then, and the traces of battle on Exegol with it. He felt bile rising in his throat at the thought of what he would have to do. And without authorization on top of it all.</p><p>             “General Hux?”</p><p>             Mitaka. Of course. Always Mitaka. Hux turned his head to look at him. Mitaka, his brown eyes focused on him, was holding a datapad and he handed it to Hux without ceremony. Bad news then.</p><p>“How many pilots did we lose?”</p><p>             “Twenty-five made it back, Sir. All personnel aboard the <em>Vengeance</em> is unharmed, although plenty were injured during the attack.”</p><p>             Hux nodded, forcing his face to stay calm as he scanned the ID’s of the pilots who had returned. His heart missed a beat when realized that Dameron was not among them.</p><p>No…no, he couldn’t be- Hux blinked, refusing to touch his lips as he stared unblinking at the screen in front of him.</p><p>             “One TIE is still out there,” Mitaka added, almost tentatively and Hux looked up again. There was no way he could make out that TIE with the naked eye. He strode over to an unused console to pull up the tactical display, his hands on the verge of shaking. There it was. A lone TIE fighter. A TIE they were unable to contact, because the comms were still offline. A TIE which wasn’t moving in their direction, but further away before it jumped to lightspeed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I know what you're gonna say. But the special forces TIEs DO have hyperspace capabilities. I checked :-D</p><p>*coughs* BUt... apart from that, I'm sorry for the ending of this chapter. Forgive me?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Chapter 25</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Some more Hux POV coming uuuup</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>Dameron was gone. And there was no way to track him. Not with the sensors still damaged and impaired the way they were. There was no way to trace where he’d gone.</p><p>             For a moment Hux felt as though the floor had been ripped from underneath his feet. “Get the repairs underway,” he said mechanically, his eyes still trained on the display. On the spot where mere seconds ago Dameron’s TIE had been. He looked straight into Mitaka’s face, determined not to show surprise or terror at what had just happened while his insides were squirming. Slowly he turned to leave the bridge. There were a thousand things to be done. A thousand pretexts behind which to hide. He caught Tormac staring at him, sensed the question hanging in the air like a guillotine and it was all Hux could do not to snap at the man.</p><p>             “Lieutenant Mitaka, please schedule a meeting with the chief engineers as soon as the most crucial repairs is underway. Set a course for Exegol, Captain Tormac.” There was no way communications would be online anytime soon. A small blessing. Hux couldn’t bear the thought of having to talk to Pryde. Recording a message and sending that to Pryde’s latest location would be daunting enough. Already his mind was crafting the message he would have to prepare before sending it out. They might not require assistance with the repairs apart from a few spare parts, but he’d already caught glimpses of the overall status of the ship on the bridge. The stress on shields had taken its toll on their fuel levels and their overall defensive capabilities. There was no way this ship would survive another encounter.</p><p>             He felt several pairs of eyes resting on him as he strode towards the exit, the words he’d spoken merely half an hour previously still ringing in his own ears.</p><p>
  <em>He is not only a guest of the Final Order, but our ally.</em>
</p><p>Well, so much for that. He would have to find a way to get out of this. And soon. He felt the skin on his neck start to burn with shame.</p><p>             What had he done?  How could he have been this easily enticed by a rebel? He knew who Dameron was! What he would do for his cause, no matter how lost that cause might appear.</p><p>             And these people must know it too. They knew that Dameron had been brought aboard as a prisoner. They knew that Poe Dameron was an infamous rebel. Someone to be reckoned with. Someone to shoot on sight. And instead, their own general had entrusted a whole squadron to him.</p><p>             Yes, Dameron had managed to drive off the enemy, but he had fallen back into old habits once the coast was clear.</p><p>             He had fled the first chance he got.</p><p>             Of course he had.</p><p>             Only a few minutes later the doors to his office finally, gratefully closed behind him and Hux allowed himself to fall into the chair behind his desk. Involuntarily his eyes drifted to the couch sitting against one of the walls and the dejarik board hidden in the table in front of it. He’d rarely felt more foolish in all his life, and that was saying something. There was no denying it. He had allowed this to happen. He had allowed Dameron to gain control where he shouldn’t have. He had let his guard down too much. What an idiot he’d been.</p><p>             Hux closed his eyes and let out a long breath. He was done for. If Ren were still in charge, he’d already be dead. Well, at least that death would have been quick, even if it might not have been painless.  But one thing was certain it was that if anyone had suspected him of being the spy, then Dameron’s escape would have been the last proof they needed. He closed his hands into tight fists and pressed it against his forehead as the realization that this little adventure with Dameron might very well cost him his life, not even to speak of the fact that with him any open resistance against Pryde and his cronies would die too.</p><p>             Clearing his throat, he sat upright in his chair und pulled his datapad towards him. He would have to hire a bounty hunter as quickly as possible. Where was Dameron from again? Yavin? How difficult might it be to get hold of that father of his?</p><p>             Hux’s stomach tightened. No, Dameron would know Hux would do this. But he had to try. He had to try at least. But before that he head to craft this message for Pryde and find a messenger. No… no, there would be no message about Dameron. Not yet. Not as long as he didn’t have a plan to destroy the pilot and eradicate every trace of connection there was between them.</p><p>             But all he could focus on was the silver ring lying on top of his desk. That damn ring which had made him let Dameron go. What a fool he was. With a swift stroke he swiped the ring off the desk. It fell to the floor with a dull clunk. Hux almost wished he could hear that sound reverberating through the air.</p><p>             <em>Get to work,</em> he told himself. <em>Just get to work.</em></p><p>            </p><p>“The communications array his damaged beyond repair,” Rougair said, his pale face tinged sickly blue by the holo as he pointed needlessly at the topmost area of the ship projected in front of them. “That is where one of the Ascendancy fighters grazed our hull before one of our pilots took it out for good.”</p><p>             “We are working on setting up a rudimentary array so that short-range communication shouldn’t be a problem anymore,” Jarveez, another engineer chimed in. She was younger than Rougair and judging by the way she sat in her chair at the long conference table, a lot calmer. She was sitting upright, but she didn’t appear to be tense. Hux eyed her appraisingly. Over the past few weeks he’d had spent enough time with these people to be acquainted somewhat with them and their work. Apart from Rougair, they had all been on the planet below, organizing the last desperate salvaging efforts. Jarveez had even worked with Kandia before the accident.</p><p>             “What about the ships of the Sith fleet?” Far too late Hux realized he was tapping the table top with his fingertip. He quickly pulled it back into the fist resting on the edge of the gleaming black surface. “We should be able to salvage one from one of those ships?” It wasn’t ideal, but given their circumstances one of the few options presenting itself to them.</p><p>             “Yes, Sir,” Jarveez said , her grey eyes trained on Hux, “but we are not sure how safe that would be given that the surface has become even more unstable.” There was no emotion in her voice, but Hux got the distinct sense that she was afraid he would tell her to go down on the planet anyway.</p><p>             “Do you have an estimate how long the planet will remain stable?”</p><p>             Jarveez turned to look at Rougair and the three other engineers. Hux had looked up their files before the meeting. Jarveez, Rougair, Mantell, Lynn and Domer. All five of them had finished their training with excellent marks and had served the Order faithfully ever since. Domer, the oldest, was only a few years younger than Hux and distantly related to Pryde, if Domer’s file was to be believed. And they usually could be. Whether or not Pryde had placed him here with the clear intention of spying on him, Hux couldn’t be sure, though he had to remind himself to remain vigilant.</p><p>             “We estimate about a week before the planet’s crust becomes completely unstable,” Domer said quietly and Hux nodded again.</p><p>             “I have already sent a messenger informing High Command of our current situation, though I doubt we can count on backup before the day after tomorrow at the earliest.” He tapped his chin and looked out the viewport at what was left of what must have once been the greatest fleet ever built in one place in such a short span of time. His stomach curled at the thought of all those wasted resources and the danger hiding beneath the cracking surface. His fingertips were tingling as he thought about going down there for just a moment to look at it one last time. Who could say where another network of caves like this might be hidden. Such power. All gone to waste. Because there was no denying that it needed to be destroyed now more than ever.</p><p>             But what did he care, he thought bitterly. None of this should matter to him now. But the problem was, that it did. And that he still wanted the Order to succeed, especially with his newly arisen threat. It might be nothing, re reminded himself. Nothing but an unfortunate coincidence, but it couldn’t be denied that the Ascendancy had attacked unprovoked. After this, it was only a question of time before they launched an attack on the rest of the fleet. And he didn’t want the Order to loose. He could not allow himself not to care.</p><p>             “General Hux?”</p><p>             Hux pressed his lips into a thin line, taking a deep breath as he looked down at the skeleton of another ship. He couldn’t even make out which kind of ship it was through the clouds, whether it was a Resistance ship, or a Final Order ship. He also couldn’t say how many mass graves had been dug at this point. The <em>Vengeance’s</em> incinerators hadn’t even been able to cremate all the corpses occasional limbs they’d found on the first day alone. Ships crashing into the ground following a massive chain reaction couldn’t exactly be expected to leave anything other than utter destruction behind, especially with the levels of radiation spiking within the atmosphere for days after the crash. They could only call themselves lucky that modern ion engines weren’t as dangerous those of old Star Destroyers. And ever since the accident, he had suspended the efforts at burying the dead. It was a waste of resources and far too risky.</p><p>             Slowly he turned to face the engineers again, reminding himself that now he needed to sound firm and decisive. “We need to destroy as much of the evidence as possible,” he said. “If we cannot salvage any more parts from the ships below, then we will at least have gained time in that regard. For that you will devise a method of speeding up the process of destabilization.”</p><p>             He was not surprised to see at least two of the engineers blanche at these words, but Jarveez and Domer nodded. “Explosives?” Domer prompted and Jarveez nodded.</p><p>             “That in combination with the lightening storms and the charged up atmosphere,” Jarveez added, but before she could continue, Hux had gotten up from his chair.</p><p>             “Have the suggestions on my desk in five hours,” he said, to his own displeasure relieved that these people were following the same line of thought he had started on himself. Rigging up a device of this magnitude would take some time and they needed to act fast. He rested his fist on the small of his back as he looked down at the officers. “You should also note that there have bee recent discoveries of strands of kyber within the planet’s crust.” Jarveez knew about those of course. She had, after all, worked closely together with Kandia, but as far as he was aware, luckily, the news of the discovery hadn’t gotten further than this. Now it hardly mattered. He watched as Domer exchanged a quick look with Jarveez however that told a different tale. “Please take those into account. Channeling any sort of explosive force through those crystals might prove useful.” He pulled up his datapad from where it had been lying on the table and sent an abridged and modified report to the devices of the five people. Then he tapped on another folder to send more files. “As a reminder, these were the basic plans for Starkiller Base. Those of you not familiar with its design will surely find these technical notes useful.” He had only briefly looked over all of their files, hating that none of them had served under him up until this point. It was a shame that only a handful of trusted officers had been transferred aboard the <em>Vengeance,</em> but of course that too was part of Pryde’s strategy.</p><p>             Hux swallowed the bile rising up in his throat and forced himself not to dwell on that. These people were most likely not all that familiar with the plans to Starkiller Base, but with those of the Death Star. No engineer left the engineering training program without having studied those. The men and women sitting in front of him were all looking at their own devices now, skimming through what he had sent them and only when Hux picked up his own datapad and turned to leave, did Jarveez look up at him. Just for a brief moment. She didn’t speak, but Hux knew she understood that this step was necessary.</p><p> </p><p>Hux was relieved to find Voya in the gymnasium. Voya was a passable sparring partner and certainly preferable to a new one.</p><p>             Voya met his gaze easily enough, and there was very little need for talk. It was easy to slip into the familiar routine. The clash of the batons reverberated through his very bones like a long lost friend, and the movements, dodging and returning the blows directed at him were something he was used to. This was no challenge. None at all. This was nothing if not a return to normalcy as he blocked one hit, whirled around and aimed at Voya’s side. A blow easily blocked by Voya.</p><p>             No challenge.</p><p>             Nothing new.</p><p>             Normalcy.</p><p>             It was exactly what he needed, he told himself, as sweat started running down his neck. Voya was a good enough partner, demanding of him exactly what Hux needed to fulfil his training goal for the day.</p><p>             It made him sick.</p><p>             Primarily because he found himself almost expecting someone to show up at the door every now and again. It was no real expectation. No certainty, but his gaze flickered towards the glass door more often than he cared to admit and every time he didn’t see that cursed face, he felt that strikingly hot stab in his chest. A stab that made him wish Dameron actually were in front of him so he could wring that perfect neck.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Next Chapter: A few questions will be answered. </p><p>Any theories on your part? I'd love to hear them!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. Chapter 26</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>By now the explosives were in place, all of them in the exact spot where they should be and Hux turned to look at the tactical display every now and again to see where the bombers should be at this precise moment. Luckily the shuttles were already safely back in their allotted hangars. They had taken a risk sending people down there to deliver explosives to crucial locations, but there hadn’t been anything for it. The optimal spots had been chosen according to the surface scans they had of this planet and some of those simply weren’t accessible by ship for the deployment of the bombs they needed placed there. Nobody had been hurt in the process. When Domer had told him what might be necessary to make the plan come out the way they were trying to achieve, Hux had not been surprised, but the very idea of their people back on the ground when the earth could crack open beneath their feet at any given moment, swallowing them up as it had Kylo Ren and the scavenger, was downright disconcerting. The TIE bombers at least would not be required to get so close to the surface to be affected by the instabilities.</p><p>     He pulled back his shoulders the moment he heard the swish and the crisp clack of boots when the visitor entered his office. His fist clenched more tightly around the ring still in his hand. He'd meant to destroy it once and for all. Somehow, stupidly, he hadn't been able to throw it down the garbage chute. Maybe it wasn't the worst of ideas after all. He might as well keep it, he thought. Just to remind himself of his own foolishness. Pressing his lips into a thin line, he kept staring at the surface below. Very likely this was the last time he would have to lay eyes on the fortress from which the First Order's doom had been knowingly accepted for the sake of a few individuals.</p><p>     “General?”</p><p>     Mitaka. Of course it was him. Hardly anyone but the Lieutenant ever entered his office to tell him news of anything. For a moment he wondered if Mitaka was truly loyal to him, or whether he was just ambitious to have accompanied him this far without leaving his side since his graduation from the cadet program. Hux should probably get that promotion underway. Just in case. Who could tell how much time he had left, he thought bitterly. Or was it already time for drastic and desperate measures? Well, he would have to wait to strike against High Command until this ship was fully operational again and far out of this system anyway at the very least. At best he should have a wider following as well. Frowning, he watched as a part of the citadel slid down from the formerly sleek black side and crashed seemingly soundlessly to the ground below. Yes, it was high time to leave this place and get on with things.</p><p>     “Sir?”</p><p>     “Yes, I heard you, Lieutenant,” Hux replied as the dust rose high into the atmosphere. If he believed in this sort of thing, he would have almost called the sight poetic. He closed his eyes for a moment and turned to look at Mitaka. It was high time to move the Destroyer a safe distance away from this place.</p><p>     The younger man was standing right in front of his desk, eyes fixed on Hux. “Captain Tormac says everything is in place.”</p><p>     The words were like a stab to the gut. Hux nodded once, forcing his face into the neutral expression he needed. “Yes, I am aware,” he said as his stomach writhed with anger. Of course he knew what was happening, after all, he himself had approved of the time line this plan had to follow. This was his operation after all. Causally he opened the top drawer of his desk, reminding himself as he did so, that he should probably keep the important things in his private quarters. “Tell me, is Captain Tormac that inept with technology that he prefers sending you on errands rather than using the comm system?” Raising his eyebrow, he looked up at Mitaka who visibly struggled with a grin at this.</p><p>     “I would rather not ask him that, Sir,” Mitaka said, biting his lip and looking down at the gleaming surface of Hux’s desk next second. He knew the man somewhat, they had worked together for a few years now, and thus far Mitaka had always proven loyal to him. How many others were though? With Kandia gone, the list of the people he knew  he could rely upon in this crew had shortened significantly.</p><p>     “How bad is it on the bridge?” Hux prompted, contemplating about dropping the ring in the drawer and then deciding to put it into his pocket. This office was too close to the bridge. Too easily accessible by people he did not want to know about it.</p><p>     “Permission to speak frankly, General?”</p><p>     Pocketing the ring Hux took a deep breath. “What is it, Mitaka?”</p><p>     Mitaka didn’t respond at once. He was a brave man, Hux thought, and he appeared to be ambitious enough, first in his class in the program, carrying out his duties diligently even when it came to delivering bad news. At least he didn’t look at Hux like he had at Ren. “Captain Tormac made a remark about leaving this sector too soon, Sir,” Mitaka cleared his throat. “I am aware that it is not my place, but I thought I should tell you that the Captain is determined to report everything that has happened on the bridge during the last attack to Allegiant General Pryde.”</p><p>     “I was not expecting anything else,” Hux said calmly, even though what Mitaka had said made his throat go tight. He’d better find a way to incapacitate Tormac then, or at least to discredit him before the comms went back online. Or was there a way to turn this whole situation to his own advantage?</p><p>     Mitaka was still nervous. He wasn’t looking at Hux, but at a spot over Hux’s shoulder, his right hand in a tight fist.</p><p>     “But I do not think you were done? Lieutenant?”</p><p>     “No.” Standing up more straight, Mitaka met his gaze again. “Sir, Captain Tormac also made a snide remark about General Dameron to Lieutenant Maxwell. About how you were shortsighted in letting him lead the attack.”</p><p>     “Is that all?”</p><p>     “That’s all he said, Sir,” Mitaka answered, though his undertone suggested that there had been more to Tormac’s remark. More that Tormac didn’t dare voice in front of other officers, but had suggested with other means. Had the gossip Hux had been dreading already reached Tormac then?</p><p>     Gritting his teeth, Hux nodded. “I understand,” he paused, closing the drawer again and picking up his datapad from its stand in the centre of the table. “Do you agree with him, Mitaka?”</p><p>     There was a brief pause. A pause laden with things Mitaka wasn’t saying, but which didn’t prevent Mitaka from telling him about Tormac, his superior officer. “General?”</p><p>     “I would like to know, Mitaka, if you just told me these things to warn me about Captain Tormac, Pryde’s personal favorite, or if you agree with him but merely do not approve of his conduct." He fixed Mitaka with his stare, knowing full well that if he dropped his eyes for just a moment, he might miss a crucial detail in the Lieutenant's expression.</p><p>     But Mitaka's eyes didn't flicker. He didn't look away, and for the first time in days Hux got the feeling that he knew who he was dealing with. This was a person he knew how to read, because he knew the way the man thought. Then why was it so little gratifying when Mitaka shook his head? "General, it is not my place to question your orders, but neither is it Captain Tormac's."</p><p>     "What is your opinion then?" Hux pressed on, determined to know what Mitaka was thinking, because Mitaka wouldn't lie to him. Not the way others would have gladly done at any given point in his life. Mitaka had nothing to gain from telling him about Tormac and then betraying Hux at the next possible moment. Mitaka was known for supporting Hux anyway, anybody knew Mitaka was his right hand more than anybody else. Mitaka was reliable to say the least. Reliable in carrying out his tasks, but if he was to become more useful and advance in rank, then Hux needed to know if Mitaka truly was on his side.</p><p>     "If General Dameron had intended to betray us, Sir, he might have taken off without destroying the enemy ship first. He needn't have brought himself into danger by engaging the Chiss." There was more to it. Mitaka’s eyebrows were slightly raised, his hands pressed tightly against the seams of his breeches as he looked Hux in the eyes. Did he really believe what he was saying, or was he just trying to humor him.</p><p>     Well it was certainly a different point of view. Still, he didn't believe it himself. Not in the least. Dameron was a vain and cocksure daredevil of a pilot who couldn't just pass up a chance of showing off. Still, he nodded as though fully agreeing with him. If Mitaka thought so, chances were others did too, and sooner or later he would need the support of the rest of the crew.</p><p>     Hux stood up straight to pull up his gloves. "Well then," he said firmly, let us go to the bridge and relieve Captain Tormac of the burden of entertaining everyone on duty with idle gossip, shall we?"</p><p> </p><p>When Hux stepped onto the bridge, Tormac only briefly looked at him over his shoulder, paying attention neither to Hux or Mitaka. Not that Hux minded. He would have to have a serious talk with the Captain as soon as possible and for now he could overlook this insolence. For now there were more pressing matters. Maxwell, Tormac’s lackey, was standing right next to his Captain, datapad at the ready and doing stars-knew-what on there while Jarveez was focused on the tactical display which now showed only the scans of the planet and the places where the explosives had been set.</p><p>“Is every fighter in position?” He knew they were, but this was as good an opening as any, he thought as he stood next to Tormac, hands clasped behind his back. The usual posture he assumed in the presence of most people. Face relaxed, back straight, eyes trained on the current object of interest. The planet loomed in front of the viewport, the spearhead that was the <em>Vengeance</em><em>’s</em> bow pointed at the centre of the semicircle that was all of Exegol that could be seen through the viewport. There was no way to get further out without running the chance of trapping the ship in the field of debris.</p><p>“All twenty-six TIE bombers in position, General Hux,” Jarveez said when Tormac didn’t answer straight away. She looked at him briefly before turning her attention back to the display. Out of the corner of his eye Hux watched Tormac’s cheeks redden.</p><p>Hux nodded again. “Shields to maximum,” he addressed the young woman at the console. What they were doing here now was an exquisite maneuver and everything had to be timed perfectly. The TIEs above all else had to get back into the safety of the ship’s hangar as quickly as possible after firing simultaneously at their targets.</p><p>   “Shields at maximum, Sir.”</p><p>   So this was it. The last few moments of the planet of Exegol. And good riddance. He was itching to have the officer at the comms contact the TIEs, just to tell them to fire himself, but with the comms down, there was no way to reach them. No way to address them.  This might very well be it. The beginning of the Empire’s long funeral.</p><p>They were ready.</p><p>Hux took a deep breath, holding the air in his lungs when he saw the lights on his right switch from blue to red as the set timer ran out. Instantly the gunner fired every single ventral cannon at their disposal only seconds before the TIEs were to fire. There was no way to pick up the signals from the planet or their TIEs. They were working blind here, but not for the first time the precision and adherence to protocol which was hammered into their pilots paid off and with a wave of gratification he thought of Dameron and how his reckless, instinct-driven actions had succeeded a few times, and how a coordinated effort from fine First Order soldiers managed to achieve the insurmountable task of destroying a planet with only a few explosives and TIEs.</p><p>He kept his gaze steadily upon the planet. The minute explosions were barely visible from where he was standing, but beneath the patchy cover of clouds the grey smooth surface began to crack like an egg as the chain reaction went on.</p><p>And when the rifts became more visible, when the kyber channeled the energy to the core in dark red glowing streaks and one of the officers announced that all the TIEs were now safely back in the hangar, he let out his breath. Within another minute there was nothing left of the Sith fleet’s grave as the entire world burst forth in an explosion, the shock wave of which was powerful enough to shake the floor beneath their feet.</p><p>Nothing more.</p><p>That was it.</p><p>The sense of elation he’d been expecting wasn’t there. No relief. Just the burning of his eyes from staring directly into the explosion. There was no numbness. No regret. No triumph.</p><p>This, he reminded himself, was just another step in the right direction. It was better this planet was destroyed than its resources falling into Pryde’s hands.</p><p>Slowly, he turned to Jarveez and nodded at her. “Good job,” he said calmly, rubbing his fingertips together. “Get us out of the system, Captain.” They needed to refuel and get to the nearest Final Order base as quickly as possible. “Set a course for Adumar.” He was fully aware that Zeffo might be closer and better equipped for their needs, but it was risky to draw Pryde’s attention to that place just yet and that was where Unamo would find them again if Pryde let her go after delivering his message.</p><p>He looked at Tormac. The man wasn’t looking at him. What a coward. Had he figured out that Mitaka passed on more than the message intended for Hux then? Probably. The man was not entirely stupid, not matter how much Hux wished he were.</p><p>“General Hux,” an officer in the pit said, drawing Hux’s attention away from Tormac, “message from the main hangar.”</p><p>Raising an eyebrow, Hux looked down at the Petty Officer. He had never seen him on duty here before, and he was older than most serving in the Order nowadays. The white moustache wasn’t against regulation, but clearly the man had come into the Unknown Regions with the Empire. Another character to be careful about.</p><p>“Sir, it appears an additional Special Forces TIE entered the hangar along with the strike force.”</p><p>An additional TIE? Hux quickly assumed the usual distant expression, before Tormac could see. Before anyone could see that this sentence alone was enough to make his heart skip a beat.</p><p>“It’s General Dameron, Sir.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0027"><h2>27. Chapter 27</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  
</p><p>The smell of ozone hadn’t quite left the hangar when Hux entered it through the vast door, Tormac and Mitaka right on his heels. One entity whose loyalties hadn’t been tested yet, one who was already planning to sell him out first chance he got. The cold steel of the blade was a familiar touch against his forearm, and the weight, though very much familiar as well, was reassuring at the same time.</p><p>Hux looked left, to where the Special Forces TIEs were secured in their bays and to the one in the middle, in front of which ten Stormtroopers were standing at attention, facing the TIE instead of him. It was an appropriate meeting for a General, even if said General had abandoned ship without clearance. Hux’s insides clenched at the thought that Dameron’s betrayal was far more obvious, but he couldn’t have him pulled out of that damned fighter without incriminating himself. He had already crept far too deep into this disaster. But if he played it right, he might just make it out alive.</p><p>If he played it right and made sure Dameron didn’t act on his own again.</p><p>“Where was he?” he heard Tormac say behind him and Hux would very much have liked to ram the knife into his windpipe. Anything to stop the man from speaking. Instead, he shook his head and looked at Tormac from the side just as the hatch on top of the TIE opened. Whatever he said, whatever he answered, he knew he might just entangle himself in a web of lies that would be very hard to untangle once Dameron rejoined the game.</p><p>Dameron… beneath the thin leather layer of his gloves, Hux’s palms were sweaty, almost sticking to the material. How he would have loved to strangle the man. But he had returned. For whatever reason, Dameron had decided to return when he must be well aware that Hux would very much have liked to kill him on sight. The wide grin on Dameron’s face when he emerged from the TIE, was unbearable. He was still in his General’s uniform, though it was creased and the once shiny boots were caked in dirt and with the insignia missing once again from his arm. Hux felt the heat rising in his neck and took a deep breath to calm himself down as he approached the TIE with Mitaka and Tormac in tow.</p><p>“Hey there folks,” Dameron exclaimed, his tone far too cheery as he surveyed the ranks of Stormtroopers greeting him by standing at attention for him. He must have already see it from the cockpit, but had chosen to remain inside until his fate was decided. Maybe he was not as confident as he pretended to be.</p><p>“Dameron,” he said calmly, fully aware of Tormac’s gaze on him and him alone. He knew what the other was waiting for. For Hux’s command to have Dameron detained and put himself in discredit. “What did you find?”</p><p>Dameron’s gaze swept over the group assembled in front of his TIE and lingered on the technician now attaching the TIE to the charging station. “Everything I was looking for,” Dameron answered and for a moment Hux thought the madman was simply going to jump from where he sat, teetering on the lower part of the TIE’s hull, but then he used the ladder instead. “I see you’ve been busy,” he said, skipping the last step. “Blew up another planet, huh?”</p><p>Hux ignored Tormac clearing his throat and took the last few steps towards Dameron, whose dark brown eyes searched his, as though they were looking for something in particular. It took Hux a moment to realize that Dameron was actually waiting for a smile when Hux would have gladly thrown him out of the next airlock.</p><p>“Quite the welcoming committee, huh?” Dameron prompted, as usual uncomfortable with silence. Always that horrendous need to fill every quiet second. It was downright infuriating.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The main meeting room above the bridge was located right next to Hux’s office, overlooking the bow of the ship as it maneuvered through what had been a battlefield only a few days earlier. Their current vector would carry them to Adumar, although, thanks to the low levels of fuel, they could not possibly think of traveling at high speed. The journey would take two days.</p><p>Tormac was sitting to his left, Dameron to his right while Domer went on explaining which repairs still needed to be made and which they could expect to have completed by the time they arrived at their destination. An ordinary meeting, if it weren’t for Dameron sitting right next to him. A rebel leader disguised as a General of the Final Order.   </p><p>And a traitor.</p><p>Hux was itching to have him thrown into a cell. To demand that he explain himself, but there had been no time. And he didn’t have the strength. With Dameron showing up the way he did, and Hux publicly strengthening his position as ally on the bridge, there was little for him to do but keep playing this game for now. The stakes were too high to be petty out in the open like this.</p><p>“The shields were running at full power when Exegol was destroyed,” Domer was saying. Hux knew Dameron was looking at him, but he didn’t look back. His hand in a tight fist resting it on his leg, he watched Domer’s presentation. “But should we encounter another enemy ship before our jump, we will not have enough fuel to keep them running at maximum and make a full jump to Adumar.”</p><p>“Is that likely?” Dameron asked, leaning forward, both of his elbows on the table. No sense of decorum. He hadn’t even shaved properly wherever he had been. He’d found the time to remove the insignia, but not for this.</p><p>Hux closed his fist even tighter, cursing himself for even thinking of that. It didn’t matter. It shouldn’t.</p><p>“We do not know how their strategies may have adapted over the years,” Mitaka said, “but they realized they were causing a lot of damage to our ship, so it is likely they may attack again.”</p><p>Dameron frowned at this. “And I guess outmaneuvering them in this mighty hunk of a ship might be quite the challenge, huh?”</p><p>“Are you suggesting you commandeer this Star Destroyer as well, Dameron?” Tormac fixed his eyes on Dameron before turning back to Domer, as though Dameron’s comment or possible response was beneath him anyway.</p><p>Before he could add anything else or before Dameron could retort something they might all regret, Hux jumped in: “The best course of action would indeed be to get away from here as quickly as possible. All evidence the Chiss may ever have hoped to find has been destroyed.”</p><p>“What’s next then?” Dameron asked with a frown.</p><p>Slowly, Hux turned his head towards him. “Next this ship needs to be fully repaired before we receive further orders.” And they might indeed be orders neither one of them were happy about. If Pryde could indeed be convinced that Dameron had been persuaded to argue for their cause, then Dameron would be taken to Pryde. By that time another plan needed to be in place, and right now Hux was not feeling at all like launching any more plans with this man who didn’t even think about the consequences of his actions.</p><p>“Right.” Dameron leaned back again without dropping his gaze. For once he kept his big mouth shut. That was something.</p><p>And here it was. The moment when Hux needed to ask <em>what </em>he’d achieved. He looked at his datapad, fully aware that his whole charade might fall apart at any moment. It would only take Dameron saying something slightly wrong. This was almost like dejarik, only that Dameron was not a particularly skilled player and all Hux had as backup were Mitaka, maybe Jarveez and the knife up his sleeve. It wasn’t a lot, and Hux hated to gamble, but there it was. Slowly he turned to frown at Dameron. “Well then,” he said, eyes fixed on Dameron and assuming an almost bored expression as he chose his words carefully. “What was it you wanted to tell us about before concerning your mission?”</p><p>Dameron’s gaze didn’t flicker. He didn’t even start fidgeting with his hands. He only nodded briefly. “I sent the message as we discussed, though I haven’t received a reply yet.”</p><p>Yet.</p><p>A message. To whom? Was that really why Dameron had taken off the way he did? Just to send a message to Mon Mothma through a secure channel? It was the only thing that made sense, but it was so foolish that Hux didn’t dare believe it was true. But he nodded anyway, not daring to ask how he was going to receive that reply. His stomach churned and he could see that Tormac wasn’t in the least bit satisfied with the answer, but who gave a damn really. Communications were still down and there was no way they would get repaired until they reached Adumar. Plenty of time, he told himself. Plenty of time.</p><p> </p><p>Tormac lingered at the viewport after the meeting was over. What a pathetic little man. It was as though he thought Hux didn’t know the oldest game in the book. Clenching his jaw, Hux pocketed his datapad before Tormac could make a move. Already Mitaka and Domer had gone, so he had better take the window of opportunity and leave this place before Tormac could get it into his head to actually talk to him. Before any other officer could make their way towards the door, Hux looked at Dameron briefly before heading out again.</p><p>Dameron nodded once, then, looking over his shoulder at the others almost nervously, followed Hux. As though on cue Tormac’s head snapped around, making Hux feel his stomach was plunging into a bottomless pit. Without reacting to Tormac’s obvious attempts to talk to him again, Hux turned away and slowly started making his way over to the office. No Stormtroopers. There were no more Stormtroopers to keep an eye on Dameron here either. Of course there weren’t. Hux couldn’t insist on that anymore, could he? If fancy caught him, the damn rebel could just as easily slip out of their grasp again.</p><p>
  <em>He needn't have brought himself into danger by engaging the Chiss.</em>
</p><p>That was what Mitaka had said. An argument shrugged off easily enough.</p><p>But Dameron had come back, Hux thought bitterly as he waited for Dameron to enter the office as well so he could lock the door. Raising an eyebrow at him, Dameron stood there in the middle of the room, in that creased uniform, dried dirt spattered where he had stepped. That sight, above everything else was the prompt he needed. His voice was firm when he spoke again, his eyes fixed on Dameron without blinking. “Where have you been?” How easily Dameron had been willing to sacrifice him was clear enough. He really should have known, shouldn’t he? His chest was so tight he felt his heart pounding against his rib cage.</p><p>“Sorry, what?” Dameron prompted, hands now on his hips.</p><p>“You heard me.”</p><p>“Miss me?”</p><p>“No.” He bit his tongue. This was not the sort of attitude he should encourage. This was not the petty answer he wanted to give.</p><p>At least Dameron wasn’t smiling. He took a step towards Hux, slowly raising his hands as though trying to mimic a calming gesture. Fool. Hux could easily reach the knife hidden in his sleeve and Dameron would never have known what had hit him.</p><p>“Hux, I thought you knew.”</p><p>“Knew what?” Hux hissed, flinching when he heard the familiar sound at the door announcing a visitor. A visitor who would not be able to enter. Damn Tormac.</p><p>For a moment he thought Dameron was going to reach out to him, but instead he shoved his hands into his pockets with a frown, seemingly unfazed by the sound at the door. “I contacted Mon Mothma.”</p><p>So he’d really done it. Or at least he said he’d done it. Hux smiled unhappily. “Of course you did.”</p><p>“Excuse me?”</p><p>“I should have you put in shackles, Dameron.”</p><p>Taken aback, Dameron’s eyes widened. “Fine,” he said, raising one of his eyebrows and for a moment there Hux was almost sure he’d say something else, but instead, Dameron held his tongue and merely looked at him, that crease between his eyebrows so deep it looked as though it would never vanish. Hux didn’t know what to say. This was not the kind of situation he could wind his way out of, and Dameron knew it. All he could do was stare at him, once again feeling the impasse, in which he had managed to trap himself, close down on him.</p><p>“Well?” Dameron shot at him, finally prompting an answer out of Hux.</p><p>“You are putting me in a very bad position.”</p><p>“Oh really, and I’m in a real comfy place, am I?” Dameron gritted his teeth. “You have realized I’ve come back, haven’t you? You saw me take down that ship? You saw that I didn’t take off until I could be sure it was gone.”</p><p>Yes, Hux thought grudgingly. Yes, he had seen that.</p><p>
  <em>He needn't have brought himself into danger by engaging the Chiss.</em>
</p><p>Damn Mitaka.</p><p>Damn Tormac.</p><p>Damn Poe Dameron.</p><p>“Wow, you’re done talking, okay.” Dameron said flapping himself on the sofa, leaving Hux standing in front of the door, his hands balled into fists.</p><p><em>You betrayed me,</em> he wanted to scream, hearing in his head how foolish it sounded. Feeling in his very core that he was not moving forward here. He was dwelling on resentment, instead of moving forward and ultimately choosing to use the anger to his advantage when it came to it.</p><p>Dameron surveyed him, his head tilted to the side as he crossed his legs, the dried mud sprinkling the floor. “Wanna know what I did or not?”</p><p>    </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Another cliffhanger! I'm sorry! I'm also sorry for the late update and the short chapter!! I promis I'll be better at Better Man! ... heh...</p><p>:-D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0028"><h2>28. Chapter 28</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>The Order was exactly what its name suggested. It showed a clear path. A rational path in a galaxy of chaos.</p><p>And in his life.</p><p>It had brought him into a position where he could be free of his father once his training was done and he received his first assignment. Yes, Brendol Hux could still reach him on occasion, he was his commanding officer, but from the very moment he was placed on a different ship, things had changed for the better, finally, in the end, giving him the opportunity to dispose of that presence once and for all.</p><p>All his life he had spent avoiding people wherever he could. Wherever it wasn’t strictly necessary, or the universe had thrown him into a situation where it could no longer be avoided. It had served him well, at least until Kylo Ren had started to be more trouble than he was worth. Until he and Palpatine and all the other maniacs had started destroying everything the Order was to him and countless others. Until Kylo Ren had threatened him in a way he hadn’t thought possible. In a way that Ren might not even have known about until the day he died.</p><p>And here he was, standing opposite Poe Dameron, who had somehow creeped his way into Hux’s life like nobody else ever really had. Putting him in a position where he needed to rely on him. “Do you know how much trouble you are?”</p><p>Dameron raised his eyebrows. “So you don’t want to know what I’ve been up to? Are you intending on pouting for the rest of this meeting then?”</p><p>The stab was well-placed and deliberate. Slowly, Hux advanced and sat in his usual chair, biting back the comment that he wasn’t pouting at all, but contemplating on when to best get rid of Dameron once and for all. “Well?” he prompted instead, leaning back with a sneer and forcing his breathing to even out as he returned Dameron’s gaze. Those dark eyes were still very disconcerting indeed. “I expect you have set up a secure channel to which you have no access yet?”</p><p>“No,” Dameron said, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. “No, I talked to her. The Resistance base was abandoned of course, so I contacted Mon Mothma and she replied within a few hours. She’s not too fond of the idea of talking with you guys or surrendering, which is pretty much what I expected. But she’s willing to keep the channel open for now. At least she’s still talking to me despite this.” He pulled at his uniform sleeve with a disdainful grimace.</p><p>“Which channel?”</p><p>Dameron shrugged. “I stashed some of the stuff from the base on another planet along with means of contacting her.”</p><p>“Which world?”</p><p>“Ah, so the interrogation has begun.” He shook his head and leaned forward. “Believe me, Hux, just hearing you talk just now convinced me not to tell you. I asked you to trust me, clearly you don’t, so why should I tell you?”</p><p>Hux let out a huff of air. “Because both our survival depends on it. After that stunt you pulled…” He frowned at him, hating how his breath failed him before his words did. It really would have been easier to strangle Dameron rather than being forced to talk this through.</p><p>“Tell you what, if it comes up again, I’ll let you know beforehand. The thing is though, I wasn’t entirely sure I could actually leave. Just grabbed the chance.”</p><p>Of course he had. Poe Dameron, the constant improviser. With a sneer, Hux folded his hands in his lap. “When we arrive at Adumar I will immediately contact Pryde and tell him you’ve made contact with the rebel leader on Chandrila-”</p><p>“Hang on,” Dameron interrupted him raising a finger. “Let me talk to him. I’m good at talking.”</p><p>Another derisive snort, but before Hux could answer, Dameron got up.</p><p>“Talk me through what I should say or shouldn’t say, but I want to be involved in this. You’re planning on showing me off to him, proving I’ve become your puppet or whatever? Well, that’s not gonna fly. Nobody in their right mind would believe that happened so quickly.” He actually grinned at that and Hux got the sense that he was about to say something else. Luckily he kept it to himself.</p><p>“Had you stayed-”</p><p>“But I didn’t. And I sure as kriff am not gonna apologize for it.” He brushed a hand through his hair and looked out the viewport behind Hux. They must be close to making the jump to hyperspace by now. Slowly, Dameron shook his head. “Do you really think I wouldn’t come back though?”</p><p>What kind of question was that? That was what Hux wanted to spit in his face, but all he did was look up at Dameron, searching for the burning anger buried deep in his chest. Anything to help him lash out.</p><p>“You just keep complaining that I’m trouble.” Dameron shrugged and finally bent his head to look down on him. “Seriously, you haven’t made my life easy either, you know that?”</p><p>“I believe, had you done a more thorough job with the information I passed you we would not be in this predicament.”</p><p>“Sure, we’re there again.” He snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. ”Would you quit that and get on with things?”</p><p>Hux was on his feet before he knew it, his index on Dameron’s chest. There it was. The anger. The fury. “Don’t you dare tell me what to do, Dameron.” He was over that. He was done with it. Most of all, he was done with Dameron’s shenanigans.</p><p>“Well someone oughta tell you the truth every now and again,” Dameron shot back, pushing Hux’s hand away. “The fact is, as you very well put it, we’re in this together if we want to save some lives, and I’m not in the mood for playing kriffing games. But I said that a billion times before.” He let out a long breath. “And for Star’s sake, I did <em>not</em> betray your trust, or whatever that was. I let you fuck me, I liked it, you let me kiss you, I gave you my mother’s kriffing wedding ring and then chased away your enemy so you could blow up that kyberladen rock in peace, I came back. Can we move on now?”</p><p>“Move on.” Hux almost laughed, Dameron’s words still making chills run down his spine. He refused to acknowledge anything else Dameron had said. He let people tell him their mind. Phasma for one. Miray as well. Both were dead. Lost to this war and reckless actions. And Dameron was reckless too. Reckless and loud and far too close. “How do you suggest we <em>move on.</em>”</p><p>With a heavy sigh, Dameron took a step back, his eyes unwaveringly fixed on Hux, something flickering across his face Hux hadn’t expected there. Was that disappointnemnt?</p><p>Dameron stretched out his hand, palm up. Still no gloves. Another break of protocol. The fingertips were slightly rougher than the palms, Hux remembered. A testament to his tinkering on his X-Wing probably. An X-Wing that was now nothing but dust floating in space.</p><p>Tentatively he placed his hand in Dameron’s, almost flinching back, when the other burst out laughing, but those sturdy fingers closed around his and the smile was nothing but surprise and amusement. “I thought you’d give me that ring back,” Dameron laughed, his grip on Hux’s hand tightening.</p><p>Hux tried to pull back, heat rising up his neck, but before he could, Dameron had stepped into his space. “Dameron.”</p><p>“No, it’s okay.” He cleared his throat and laid his other hand on Hux’s cheek. “We gotta start talking more okay? Or this is all going to hell.”</p><p>Hux’s eyes drifted to Dameron’s mouth, doing his best to withstand the temptation to wrap his arm around him. What a silly notion, just because Dameron was holding on so tightly to his hand. “Dameron  I-”</p><p>“I mean it.” Dameron said. “Maybe I should’ve told you, but I really wasn’t planning on it until I was out there, okay? And no, I don’t agree with your freaking Final Order,” his fingertips started moving, pushing underneath the hem of his sleeve to touch his wrist, “but I think we should try and make this whole thing work?” The other hand moved over his cheek, the thumb caressing his cheek, the other fingers tracing his ear. This was downright insane. And Dameron was still not breaking eye contact. Being this close really was not helping Hux focus.</p><p>“Why did you come back, then?”</p><p>“You have my mom’s ring?” Dameron raised his eyebrow and then laughed again, “No, that’s not it. I think you’re a decent person, or I think you could be. There are some good people here, I think you care about them.” He cleared his throat and Hux got the sense that Dameron wasn’t telling him the whole truth. What wasn’t he telling him? What had he and Mon Mothma really discussed? Were they rebuilding the Resistance? With Dameron as its spy in the Order? If that was the case, then Hux needed to be even more careful.</p><p>“And now you’re thinking about how much I’m lying, aren’t you?” Dameron sighed and dropped the hand caressing his face. “Damn it, Hux, have a little faith?”</p><p>Faith. Another fool’s sentiment. But he didn’t say it. Dameron was right. For now he needed him. And he needed to be wary of him. He really had missed the moment when the scales had tipped, hadn’t he? When he had been in charge and Dameron more dependent on him than the other way around. Somehow Hux doubted it had happened the moment before their encounter in the gymnasium. Had it been in the cave? When had he decided to let go this much? Or had it been a decision at all?</p><p>“Stop thinking this much, will you?” Dameron’s hand was on his waist now. Even through the fabric of his clothes he felt his warmth. Somehow Hux had preferred that hand on his wrist. The slight tingling sensation. The warmth there.</p><p>“Thinking has kept me alive, Dameron,” Hux replied as he put the palm of his hand against Dameron’s chest. Whether to push him away, he didn’t even know himself, but at least the option was open to him.</p><p>“Yeah, but it’s not like I’m gonna kill you is it?” Dameron drew closer and the urge to shove him away and end this once and for all grew almost overwhelming, but then Hux felt the slight pressure of Dameron’s breath against his lips and that was almost enough to make his knees grow weak. What was this? What was this deep rooted attraction to this man?</p><p>“I might kill you.”</p><p>Dameron actually smiled, pulling him closer. So close, he had to look up at him through those thick eyelashes of his. It was as though he knew this was nothing but an empty threat. And it was. Not as though the idea hadn’t crossed Hux’s mind a few times, but the mere thought of his fingers closing around this alluring throat was abhorrent. Maybe the day would come when it might be easy to feel like disposing of Dameron was a good idea, but that day was not today, no matter how much he wished Dameron would just fall in line.</p><p>“You’re thinking again.”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Stop, will you? Just for a while?”</p><p>Hux snorted, but instead of putting some distance between them, he traced the hem where the front of the uniform closed. “I never stop.”</p><p>Another laugh. One that highlighted the crinkles in the corners of his eyes. “Right. So, are you thinking about kissing me right now or what?”</p><p>He froze in the sudden grasp of a chill running down his spine. His finger halted on Dameron’s collar as he stared down into the face that was so tantalizingly close to his . “Why would I?”</p><p>No response. None. Dameron just lingered near him, their noses almost touching and Hux couldn’t help but wonder what would be so bad about it. He’d done it before. What was there left to be thought about? This was all such a mess already, it could hardly get worse? He started leaning in, almost sensing Dameron’s lips on his, imagining what their touch might be like. Yes, it was a mess. All of it. And damn that he still couldn’t find himself regretting it. There was a different level to all of this. It was almost as though the things they did and had already done to each other had little to nothing to do with sex. And it didn’t. If anything, it only made him think he knew Dameron a bit better, which was complete and utter nonsense. Of course he didn’t <em>know</em> Poe Dameron. Just as Dameron didn’t know him, no matter how much he pretended to. But in the end, what was the harm? As long as he kept his wits about him, this shouldn’t be a problem.</p><p>Hux put a hand under Dameron’s chin. “Don’t do this again,” he whispered, “Don’t you dare expose me like this again, you hear me?”</p><p>“Expose you?”</p><p>How could he not get it? Why was this so hard to understand? Dameron was far from stupid, so why was he acting like he was? Or was he really not aware of what he’d done?</p><p>“Hey, don’t pull away.” Dameron’s grip tightened.</p><p>Hux let out a long breath. “How about we stop talking?”</p><p>“Hux… now you wanna stop complaining?” The amusement in Dameron’s voice was unbearable, the way he grinned up at him like this was all nothing but a joke downright insulting. “Never thought I’d say this, but you <em>are</em> cute when you’re angry…”</p><p>“Are you drunk?”</p><p>Taken aback, Dameron raised his eyebrow. “Never had someone call you cute before?”</p><p>Hux bit his tongue before he could say something stupid. He patted Dameron’s chest and let go of him.</p><p>“Hey, come on!” Dameron’s pulled him closer. So close their stomach’s were touching. “I was joking. You’re not cute. You’re an ugly old man. Now come kiss me?”</p><p>“Insulting me is not going to make me want to do that, Dameron,” Hux said, already tired of this. “I am not enticed by your-”</p><p>“Enticed? Fancy language.” Dameron nodded approvingly, but he slowly dropped his hands. “Fine…” he sighed. “Guess I’m gonna go to my quarters then if you’re not gonna invite me to yours.”</p><p>“What I meant was that there are people onboard who distrust me because they follow Pryde. People whose mistrust I have thoroughly earned with your disappearance.”</p><p>“Ah, so it’s about that imp of a Captain?” Dameron put his hands on his hips. “Well, can’t be helped now. I’ll be more careful, okay?” He paused, considering Hux with a frown. “So you being alone together with me is really causing a problem, huh?”</p><p>“He does not know anything.”</p><p>“No.” Dameron sighed. “But I guess things really haven’t been easy for you, huh?”</p><p>Hux gritted his teeth, refusing to look away and refusing to acknowledge any such thing. He took a trembling breath when Dameron raised his hands once again to touch his cheeks. To brush his fingertips over his jaw and cheekbone, tracing his eyebrows, leaving behind a soft trail of warmth. “Can I kiss you instead, then?” What did that have anything to do with what they had just argued about, Hux thought, wishing the anger would return. But with every minute he passed in Dameron’s company that anger seemed to fade away.</p><p>Well… as long as it didn’t dull his senses.</p><p>He nodded slowly, reminding himself not to let himself get trapped by Dameron’s unforgiving charms again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yeah another cliffhanger... but I wanted to make a break here and switch to Poe's POV in the next chapter. Sorry!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0029"><h2>29. Chapter 29</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Uhm... this chapter was not supposed to be this long... but here we are. 6k .... I couldn't find it in me to split it in half. Hope you can forgive me for the indulgence.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p>Hux’s nod came as a relief.</p><p>Poe wasn’t even sure he could say what it was that drove him to seek Hux’s proximity time and time again, but he had to admit he was intrigued. Intrigued by his resilience and stubbornness. It was easy to overlook his devotion to whatever it was he was seeing in this damn Order. It was almost heartbreaking to see the determination in his eyes now. To see the onset of a frown on his forehead. Still Hux was mistrusting him. What could possibly have happened to a person to make him so distrustful of others?</p><p>He brushed his thumb over Hux’s lower lip, revelling in the softness of it, but before he could lean in Hux had already acted, pressing his lips firmly against Poe’s, sighing the second skin touched skin. That sound alone told Poe more than he would have thought possible even a few minutes ago. His chest grew tight the moment he heard it. That low, almost whimpering sound that made his heart pick up a pace. What a sound from the man who looked at the universe with so much mistrust, even distaste on occasion. What a sign of surrender.</p><p>Poe weaved his hand through his hair, feeling the resistance of the gel in the fine strands above and the softness beneath as he returned the kiss. It was almost chaste. Not inexperienced, but far from the assault he himself had launched upon Hux before. Hux put his hands on his chest, his lips still lingering against his and he let out a long hot breath before he started pulling away.</p><p>Poe wouldn't stand for it. He put his hand on the back of Hux's neck and pulled him closer again, capturing Hux's mouth with his before the other could even think about pulling away.</p><p>Another sigh from Hux sent a shiver down his spine. In bed Hux had barely made a sound. And now this. Did he even know how incredible his voice could be if he wasn’t bawling out propaganda? How thrilling it was to feel Hux's body become almost pliable under his touch?</p><p>And then Hux returned his kiss, allowing Poe to slip his tongue between his lips as he practically tumbled into his chest.</p><p>Poe put his one hands in Hux’s neck, trapping his face right there and revelling in the next sound Hux made, in the hot breath against his face and the enthusiasm with which Hux returned his kiss, tongues meeting with in something close to aching despair, and Poe wrapped his arms tightly around him.</p><p>“I don’t have anything up here,” Hux whispered against his lips as he came up gasping for breath.</p><p>“So we’re going down to your place?” Poe kept his eyes closed, tracing Hux’s cheekbone with his mouth, almost tasting his skin. How easy it was to get Hux here. How easy it was to loose himself in this moment. He was almost sure he could be happy like this. Maybe to just taste Hux's cock again or be as close together without anything else happening, but in another room they might have more time. He wanted to draw this out. To forget the stern officer and the accusations.</p><p>Hux gasped, pulling away. “Dameron, I-”</p><p>“Stop thinking this over, okay?” Poe breathed, eyes still closed as he leaned against Hux.</p><p>“Dameron, if Tormac is waiting outside…”</p><p>“I’ll ask him if he wants to come along.” Grinning, Poe opened his eyes, bursting out into a short surprised laugh when Hux returned that grin.</p><p>“I’d rather lock him up… not with us, mind you.” He pushed closer to Poe, grinding his hips against Poe’s.</p><p>“Tell you what…” Poe whispered, “We’re just gonna risk it.” He was so close to taking Hux’s hand. To tell him not to be afraid anymore. There was no use. Hux was terrified of something beyond this situation and Tormac. Something beyond Pryde and the Order. And seeing that terror in Hux, who hadn't seemed afraid on the <em>Steadfast</em> when he was almost sure that he was going to die after rescuing him and Chewie and Finn. “Take another chance on me, huh?”</p><p>For a moment there he was almost sure that Hux would pull away completely, disgusted with Poe’s suggestion, but instead he snorted and actually smiled at him. Damn it, this man could be so handsome when he was relaxed or smiled.</p><p>“Do not make me regret this,” Hux muttered, his voice almost shaky when he kissed the corner of Poe’s mouth and pushed him away. Walking to the door, he patted his hair back into a semi-orderly fashion and Poe remained standing where he was, trying to make out the lean, thin frame beneath the almost bulky uniform. It showed next to nothing of Hux’s figure, but accentuated how tall he really was instead.</p><p>Hux looked at him over his shoulder, then held his wrist in front of the sensor right next to the door, unlocking the door. Those green eyes assumed that cool calculating look as soon as the soft beeping sound announced that anyone could barge in here at any moment. “Are you coming?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Only for a brief moment did Hux allow his eyes to linger on Dameron before he strode out of the office, a wave of relief washing over him when he couldn’t find Tormac waiting outside like the faithful watch dog he was. That wasn’t to say that there would be no other attempt to sneak in closer to him and Dameron, but that did not matter at this moment.</p><p>Upon entering the turbo lift, he checked his datapad, no matter how desperately he felt like clutching Dameron in his arms again. It had been a while to say the least since he had allowed another living being to touch him like this, or to kiss him at all. Maybe the thing with Dameron really was that it hardly mattered anymore. They were trapped in a situation where they were acting in secret anyway. Sex hardly complicated this dilemma he had found himself in. If anything, he was almost sure he could use that as an excuse if push came to shove.</p><p>Frowning, he scrolled through the messages on his datapad as Dameron stood so close to him that their arms were touching. Without Stormtroopers there was hardly any need for bodily contact like this, but what did it matter? There were no security cameras in the turbo lifts.</p><p>“Mitaka sure is sending you a lot of messages, huh?”</p><p>“Yes.” He was on the verge of shutting down the screen, almost terrified of Dameron finding the unopened messages from a few days ago and asking about them. Instead, he tapped on the latest message from Mitaka containing the protocol of the last meeting. “He is very thorough.”</p><p>He felt Dameron shift closer, but just as he was on the brink of touching him, the door slid open and there, finally was Tormac. Not really waiting in front of Hux quarters, but talking to another officer several feet from Hux’s door. So much for this. “I’ll come to your quarters,” Hux hissed when Tormac’s eyes fixed on them. “Stay in here.”</p><p>Dameron shifted to the side to press another button without hesitation and Hux stepped off the turbo lift without looking back. Damn it all. He had to admit, he had been looking forward to more.</p><p>“General,” Tormac said as he and the Captain stood at attention.</p><p>“At ease, Captains,” Hux said calmly, walking towards the narrow door leading to his quarters. The turbo lift doors behind him closed again and he knew that Dameron was gone. “Captain Shay,” he acknowledged the woman. She and Tormac had been married a few years ago, Hux remembered from Tormac’s file. Maybe that could be the path of making Tormac fall in line at some point. Maybe. Not likely. But he would be foolish not to investigate.</p><p>“Sir, I wanted to speak with you after the meeting.”</p><p>The impertinence. Hux gritted his teeth. “Captain, I am a very busy man.” Was Tormac actually expecting him to invite him into his room? He shook his head and his eyes drifted to Shay for a moment. She was looking at her ex husband with raised eyebrows, leaning away from him ever so slightly. <em>Good to know</em>, Hux thought as he held his wrist in front of the sensor. “Is this ship about to go up in flames?”</p><p>“No, Sir, this is about Dameron.”</p><p>Of course it was. Hux considered him for a moment. The intense look in his eyes, the tight jaw. Well, might as well get this over with now. "Come in," Hux opened the door and stepped into the main room of his quarters, pushing away any thought of where he and Dameron might be at this very moment, if it weren't for this petty man right behind him.</p><p>No.</p><p>No distractions allowed.</p><p>"Sit," Hux said. He would just have to see this through and make Tormac believe he was taken seriously. Maybe that might keep him from sending a report to Pryde the moment the comms were fully functional again.</p><p>He took a seat behind his desk, placing the datapad in its usual stand. "Well?"</p><p>"Sir," Tormac stood for a moment longer, hovering behind the one chair sitting opposite Hux's desk before he slowly sat down. Why was he this nervous? "General, I am aware that D- General Dameron is a guest and considered an ally, but I am deeply concerned of him having the run of the ship."</p><p>Hux bit back a remark that this was hardly any of Tormac's concern. Wasn't he himself worried about the exact same thing? And wasn't Tormac responsible for the smooth running of the ship? "Captain, are you questioning either my judgement or my authority?" He didn't have to add "again". It was implied. And judging from the way Tormac stiffened in his seat, that unsaid word hit the mark. Good.</p><p>"No, General, and I am aware that it is not my place to question the orders of High Command, but another security detail at the very least might do some good, Sir."</p><p>"Poe Dameron has proven himself to be reliable," Hux said, fighting hard to keep the tension out of his own voice. "We need him." He paused, waiting for the effect of the silence to fall on fertile ground before he added: "For now."</p><p>Tormac raised his eyebrows and Hux could see the doubts lining up behind the hidden accusation against Hux.</p><p>"The Resistance is dead, Captain. The rotten Republic is falling at our feet and those remnants that are not will need persuasion. The poster boy of the Rebellion in the uniform of the Final Order will go a long way in that regard. And though he may not look like it, he is still respected among the few rebel cells still festering in the galaxy."</p><p>"I understand, Sir." Maybe he was. Maybe he really was coming to grasps with what Hux was saying, but he was still concerned and, most of all, Pryde was still the person Tormac was itching to impress. Most likely he was only waiting for a chance to find enough evidence on Hux to be able to incriminate him and earn a promotion in due course. Maybe. Hux was not entirely unfamiliar with he concept, after all.</p><p>"Captain Tormac, you are worried that I am wasting my time with General Dameron?" That was an understatement and they both knew it, but Hux chose his words carefully as he leaned forward in his seat. "Believe me, I am not. If anything, I am keeping a close eye on him. Dameron trusts us as little as we do him, but he is willing to cooperate with us. He need not have returned," he added, picking up the argument which Mitaka had thrown at his feet mere hours ago, "he need not have helped driving away the Ascendancy fleet, but he did. And it is my intention of keeping him as loyal as possible for as long as it takes for him to fulfil his purpose." Even as he said this, he felt bile rising in his throat. His shoulders were so tense they hurt, his chest achingly tight and with very word that spilled from his mouth he had to fight harder and harder to keep a straight face. Curse Dameron. Curse him to the deepest hell holes in the Unknown Regions.</p><p>But at least Tormac appeared to relax, ever so slightly. "Sir, I was not questioning your decisions or your authority."</p><p><em>Yes, you were</em>, Hux thought bitterly, but he bit his tongue. If this little speech managed to make Tormac keep his feet still for a few more days, then it had been worth it. But he still needed to make a mental note of reminding Mitaka to keep a close eye on Tormac and those officers loyal to him. Not that Mitaka wasn't already doing just that.</p><p>Fixing Tormac with a forceful stare, he leaned back. “I will not tolerate another moment like the one on the bridge during the battle, Captain,” he said in a low voice, “I appreciate your concern, but rest assured that this will not happen again. If I want your opinion I will ask for it. Is that understood?”</p><p>Swallowing visibly, Tormac nodded. Whether he was faking the sudden burst of anxiety or not, Hux couldn’t be sure, but at least he could be certain that he had made his point. The sweat on Tormac’s forehead at least was not fake.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Hux waited for ten more minutes after Tormac had left, before he pocketed the small tube and left his quarters again to head down to where Dameron’s were located. Luckily the corridors were deserted and he didn’t meet a single person.</p><p>At least this time he was no longer worried about what he was doing here. Not that he had been uncertain the first time, but back then he had been less certain about how far he could go without compromising his integrity. Now he was sure. And there was no doubt about what he wanted, and at least this time there were no pesky Stormtroopers outside that damn door to gossip about the time he spent in Dameron’s quarters later on. And the security footage would be easy enough to manipulate later on. He would just have to make a point of it and not use his signature chip to open Dameron’s door. That would be harder to erase than the footage he was producing right now.</p><p>He approached Dameron’s door at a rapid pace holding his palm in front of the sensor instead of his wrist and there was a soft beeping sound. It was locked from the inside. So Dameron was indeed in there.</p><p>“Hang on!” Dameron’s voice came to him from the other side of the door. “Wait, trying to… ah!”</p><p>Hux could almost hear the self-satisfied smirk in Dameron’s voice seconds before the door slid wide open to reveal the small interior. The lights were dimmed, but they were bright enough for Hux not to miss the almost naked man lying sprawled out on the bed, a datapad propped up on his chest.</p><p>He stood stock still, staring at Dameron smiling at him and he felt his determination to keep this short starting to waver.</p><p>“I opened the door with my datapad,” Dameron said, still grinning broadly and obviously ignoring Hux’s stare. He was wearing nothing but the standard issue stockings including the garter belt as he lay there, cock on full display as he brushed his hand lazily through his curls. “Clever, huh?”</p><p>Hux hurried to step inside and close the door behind himself, locking it with the press of a button. “Dameron, what are you thinking?”</p><p>“Like what you see?”</p><p>“Anyone could have come here.”</p><p>“Well, luckily you were the one who did.” Dameron said, shifting slightly and propping his head up on his elbow, only accentuating the muscles of his chest as he moved. Hux didn’t even know why he had expected him to have a hairy chest, but given the speed with which his stubble grew, he had been almost sure that there would be more on his entire body. And now he was shifting some more, his nipples standing out dark against the tan skin.</p><p>The bed was right underneath the window. A TIE flying past it would have a clear view of Dameron’s backside. The thought alone made Hux’s throat go dry. Well, that scenario was more than unlikely to say the least. Especially now in hyperspace.</p><p>And here he was.</p><p>Thinking about ridiculous probabilities instead of focusing on the issue at hand.</p><p>“Wow, you’re not easily impressed, are you?” Dameron bit his lip. “I mean, I saw you look at me the other day. Thought you’d like this.”</p><p>Hux couldn’t find the right words to answer. There was no answer. None.</p><p>“A simple yes or no would be okay, you know?”</p><p>Still words wouldn’t come. Hux couldn’t remember when seeing another human being like this had ever made him feel like breathing was out of the question for a few moments. Like he had been punched in the throat.</p><p>Dameron’s eyes narrowed and he quickly stood up, wrapping the sheet around his waist as he approached Hux and taking his face between his hands as though it was the most natural thing to do. “Hux, you’re okay?”</p><p>Hux nodded, faintly aware that he was making a fool of himself, but he let Dameron step closer anyway. He taken a shower and shaved. The scent of standard-issue soap clung to him just as much as the smell that was so uniquely Poe Dameron.  Musky and alluring in every sense of the word. The mere thought that he had shaved for him made Hux's stomach clench painfully.</p><p>"Hux?"</p><p>He cleared his throat and nodded again. "Just taken by surprise," he finally managed to say in the most dignified voice he was capable of.</p><p>Dameron grinned again and kissed the tip of his nose. With one flick, he opened the sheet again and let it fall to the floor. "Kriff, you're adorable when you're flustered," he whispered, catching Hux off-guard in a kiss that made Hux stumble against the closed door and hold on tight to Dameron. The heat of his skin seeped through his leather gloves, and through the fabric of his uniform. It wasn’t the only thing he felt and the mere sensation of Dameron’s crotch against his was enough to make Hux want to shed every single bit of clothing and tumble on the bed immediately. But he got the strange feeling that wasn’t on Dameron’s mind yet. Not by judging by the way he slowed down the kiss, retreating slightly to touch their lips together again and again in gentle assault as his hand traveled up Hux’s side and down again to cradle his waist. And there was little Hux could do but hold on to him. To return the kisses and lean into him, desperate for more. For more pressure, more firmness, but Dameron wouldn’t provide. Instead he chose to tease, to torment him with kisses so slow and light they made Hux’s toes curl and his cock feel more present than it had in years.</p><p>He gasped again, when Dameron pushed against him, his cock already hard and decidedly there and full against Hux’s thigh. And then Dameron started pulling away, hands clasping Hux’s as he took a step back. “Come with me, Hugs.” There was that warm glint in his eye again. A glint that told Hux how sure of himself Dameron actually was.</p><p>“Scoundrel,” he muttered, throwing his arms around Dameron a mere second before they were even close to the bed, smashing his lips against Dameron’s. “I told you not to call me that.”</p><p>He felt the grin stretch across Dameron’s face, felt it resonate in every fibre of his being and he gasped when Dameron’s nimble fingers started fumbling with his belt. “Get these clothes off and I’ll show you what kind of scoundrel I am.”</p><p>Hux laughed despite himself, clinging to Dameron for a moment longer before allowing himself to kiss him one more time. “Last time you weren’t so impatient.”</p><p>The light cast from above let Dameron’s eyelashes appear even longer and his full lips drew Hux’s attention more than anything else. He wanted to hate that he liked kissing them so much, but there was nothing for it. He didn’t hate it, and he wouldn’t even begin to force himself to hate it. This thing with Dameron, despite their situation being as miserable as it was, despite the fact that he was still entirely certain that one way or another Dameron would screw him over if he let his guard down, he couldn’t help but be drawn to Dameron. At least in the physical sense, Dameron was downright irresistible. Even his kriffing charm wasn’t lost on Hux, and he might as well admit it. What Dameron saw in him however was far harder to understand.</p><p>“Thinking again,” Dameron whispered, tugging at his belt again, his voice so deep and low it was almost impossible to hear. But the urgency was there. The huskiness and the impatience that was so typical for Dameron. “Hugs, don’t keep  me waiting any longer.”</p><p>“Well, you didn’t have to wait for me.”</p><p>“Haha. Funny. Real funny.”</p><p>“Oh, shut up.”</p><p>“Fine.” Dameron dropped his hands and sat down on the bed, his hard cock on full display between the straps of the garters as he leaned back, propped up on his elbows, that mischievous grin on his face that made his eyes crinkle and his teeth gleam beautifully white. Maybe that was the word. Beautiful. Poe Dameron was beautiful despite, or maybe because of his carefree scruffiness.</p><p>“Yes,” Hux said, taking a small step back, the heels of his boots scraping over the floor, eyes fixed on the garter belt for only a moment before drifting to the hard cock with its almost shiny tip. It was perfect, he thought. Not too long, but certainly long enough to hit all the right places and big enough to make him feel perfectly filled.</p><p>“Yes, what?”</p><p>Hux's eyes snapped up to his face. The delicate eyelashes around those dark eyes. The beautiful, strong nose and the expressive mouth.“Yes, I like what I see. I do not think I like to admit it, but there’s no denying it. You are stunning.”</p><p>Was that a blush? A real taint of pink on Dameron’s cheeks? He blinked up at Hux, the grin wiped from his face momentarily. He cocked his head and finally managed a smile again. “Thanks, Hux. You’re not so bad yourself, you know that?”</p><p>Hux didn’t answer, but he felt the heat rising up his neck, so he quickly unbuttoned his tunic. It was nice of Dameron to at least try to return the compliment. Hux had no illusions. He was average looking at best and that was a compliment. He was far too skinny and though he might not be as physically weak as he had once been, there was nothing outstanding about him. No matter how hard Dameron tried to make him feel good. He had seen enough bodies in his time to know that he was nothing special at all.</p><p>Shrugging off his tunic and opening his belt, he found himself staring at his hands. Avoiding Dameron’s gaze was not easy. But he managed. He peeled off his boots with his toes, then pushed down his pants, but before he had the chance of folding them as neatly as his tunic, Dameron sat up again to put his hands on Hux’s sides. “Let me do some of this,” he whispered, warm hands running up and down Hux’s sides.</p><p>And Hux let him. He watched in fascination as Dameron leaned closer to kiss Hux’s too white belly, hands firmly on his sides, thumbs drawing circles onto the delicate skin, pausing only briefly when they met the one scar for which bacta had come too late. He pulled back, looking at it with a frown and Hux placed his own hands on Dameron’s shoulders, asking him not to look too closely.</p><p>“What-” Dameron asked, but he didn’t continue. Instead, he swallowed hard and nodded when he met Hux’s gaze. “Alright…” Hux was almost sure there would be another question, but for now Dameron seemed to be okay with not asking any further questions. Clearly, for now there were other things on his mind. He stroked the scar nonetheless, something nobody had ever done and looked up at him unblinkingly before leaning forward again and starting to undo the garter belt. "I really had no idea the Order was this kinky..."</p><p>"It has nothing to do with-"</p><p>"Whatever you say, Hugs." That name again. It already had lost its bite. All Hux could do was to roll his eyes. There was no way he could reprimand Dameron for it. Not when the man's mouth was travelling downward again. Certainly not when Dameron pushed down his underwear and almost greedily kissed his cock. Hux shuddered, hands still firmly placed on Dameron's shoulders and he had to hold on even tighter when Dameron actually took him into his mouth, tongue travelling up his base, making Hux gasp with a desperation he hadn't thought possible.</p><p>Hux's eyes fell shut and he had no time to think about why he let Dameron do this to him now. Why he let Dameron touch him like this. He pressed his lips together so as not to make another sound and buried his hands in Dameron's hair as that wonderfully hot mouth enveloped him, teasing him ever so slightly by sucking his tip, and then licking his base. Hux shuddered again, close to actually letting out a moan and pushing into Dameron's mouth and he quickly leaned forward, lips pressed tightly against Dameron's scalp. His hair smelled far too good. It was so unbelievably soft.</p><p>And then Dameron lifted his head, abandoning Hux's cock with his lips but replacing them immediately with his hand, gently rubbing it. Not too fast. Not with too much pressure. Just enough to let Hux know that he wasn't abandoning <em>him</em>.</p><p>"Come to bed, Hugs."</p><p>It was not an order, but almost a plea. By now Hux would have gladly followed the first as well. With his knees as weak as jelly, he bent over to fetch the small tube and the other object from his pocket before he sat down on the bed next to Dameron, thighs touching. He held the ring out to Dameron without a word and Dameron accepted it back just as silently, kissing the ring once before putting the chain around his neck. It came to rest in the center of his broad chest. A silvery something against the light tan there. Hux acted instinctively, letting all thought and scheming behind for once, deliberately abandoning them at the door where he had decided not to let this affect him, and started kissing Dameron's throat. The tender skin was almost taunting him and for a second he found himself wishing for the rough scratch of Dameron's stubble as he tasted the salty skin.</p><p> Grateful to have a route to follow he let his lips travel along the path laid out by the silver chain and he closed his hand around Dameron's cock, which was tantalisingly warm and stiff in his hand. The chest beneath his lips heaved up and down in a heavy sigh, making Hux's own cock twitch in anticipation.</p><p>And then Dameron was on top of him, straddling him, urging him to move backwards with those big and determined hands and Hux leaned against the cool viewport, once again grateful that in hyperspace nobody would see, but the thought was driven straight from his mind when Dameron's face hovered only inches from his and a few seconds took his hands and started pulling off the gloves and kissing his wrists.</p><p>He bit his lips as he watched him. Dameron had his eyes closed, the ghost a smile on his face and placed the gloves almost lovingly to the side. When he finally looked at Hux again, there was no disapproval in his eyes, No trace of aversion. He didn't have to do any of this. If he wanted to have sex and that alone it might have been over already. There wasn't even any hint of confusion or anger in his eyes. Dameron, as usual, was very sure of himself. It would have been infuriating, had the realisation not felt like a blow to the chest.</p><p>Hux leaned against the cool transparisteel and let Dameron take off his stockings as well.</p><p>"You look like I just hit you," Dameron whispered, when he was close again, their noses touching. Nothing but a tease at another kiss.</p><p>"Why don't you hate me?" Hux blurted out, the throbbing pain in his chest made almost unbearable by the warmth in Dameron's eyes. He reached for the garters which Dameron was still wearing, the fabric silky smooth to the touch. He held on to them tightly, clinging to them as though that would be enough to keep Dameron where he was. So much for not getting too involved, he thought bitterly, disgusted by himself. So much for disposing of Dameron once all that could be achieved was done. How could he when Dameron looked at him like this? When he touched him like this. There was something deeply troubling about this. About how the air seemed to buzz and the whole room felt stiflingly hot.</p><p>"Why would I?" The question should have been <em>How do you know?</em> Hux felt the words hovering in the air between them and he was grateful Dameron wasn't reaching for the lube, no matter how hard and full his cock felt throbbing against his stomach.</p><p>Hux raised his eyebrow. "I tried to kill you."</p><p>"Well, I almost killed you before. That's hardly the point." With a sigh, Dameron leaned back and took Hux hands again. It was strange seeing him with the chain around his neck. Hux's eyes lingered on the ring for a moment before he looked up again. "I said it before, I'll say it again. You're pig headed and stubborn, but you're still a good guy. I hate to say it, but I not only don't mind this, I want this. I want you. Isn't that enough for now?" He cocked his head and Hux got the sense that he was about to say more, but when he bent forward again to gently touch his lips to Hux's it was almost like an apology for not saying anything else.</p><p>It didn't ease the pain Hux didn't even know he could feel. In a way the stinging got worse, but he pushed it away. It should be enough. For now it was. And he hated it. Two small words stung more than anything and it was disconcerting to say the least.</p><p>He needed Dameron, he reminded himself. When all of this was over, he would not need him any more. This would be over too. And that was alright. With any luck they might both come out of this alive.</p><p>That ought to be enough for later.</p><p>He returned the kiss, allowing himself to feel the aching in his chest when it wouldn't deepen even when Dameron almost blindly massaged the lube on his cock, making him suppress a low moan and cling more tightly to the garters.</p><p>Hux drew back, taking the tube from Dameron's hand. "We have to be quiet," he whispered tonelessly, his own voice barely audible to himself. "The walls are thin."</p><p>Dameron grinned mischievously. "Can't guarantee for it," he laughed. "Another reason we should do this at your place next, Hux. I like your voice."</p><p>And then, very slowly, holding onto Hux with one arm around his neck and the other hand firmly around his cock, Dameron started lowering himself onto Hux, arching his back without breaking eye contact and biting his lower lip in a grimace of pure pleasure.</p><p>No. No, nobody had ever looked at him like that. Not Miray, not anyone. And he couldn't remember the last time he had looked into someone's face like this, or ever pulling someone into a kiss, desperate to feel hot breath on his cheeks as his cock slowly slid into position, causing the other person to groan with satisfaction and relief.</p><p>This was all so different. So intense. And the aching in his chest was as unbearable as the need for Dameron to deepen the kiss or to start moving again, but he knew Dameron needed a few seconds, knew it might take a while to adjust.</p><p>Dameron's thumb trailed over his cheek, his tongue finally becoming bolder, making Hux sigh with relish. The sound came out hollow and high-pitched at the same time, but for once he wasn't afraid someone might mock him for it. He wrapped his arms tightly around Dameron, who slowly started to move now, the friction and the heat enough to rob Hux of the rest of his good senses.</p><p>This was bliss. Bliss beyond anything he had ever experienced. Not only because Dameron was damned skilled at what he was doing, but there was something else. Almost as though with every movement, with every second the kiss kept going and with every little moan he drew out from Dameron, he felt his world starting to collapse around him. He held on tight to Dameron, grateful for those warm lips on his to muffle his own voice and slowly started stroking Dameron's back, only hesitating briefly before closing his hand around Dameron's cock.</p><p>The moan filling his ears was almost enough to make him come, he felt his legs starting to tense, felt every fibre of his being already begging for release and Dameron started moving faster, breathing hard into his mouth and Hux finally opened his eyes to see Dameron's face contorted in agonising pleasure still so close to his. "Hugs..." he breathed, blinking at him and Hux slid his thumb over the tip of Dameron's cock, his heart throbbing at the sensation of the liquid already starting to leak from it. Dameron blinked again, leaning back slightly and touching his forehead to Hux as he picked up the pace once again.</p><p>"I'm so close, Poe..." He wasn't even sure he'd said the name, but Dameron's eyes widened almost in shock. Quickly, Hux pulled him closer and flipped Dameron over so he was lying on his back, legs spread wide. His heart racing, Hux pressed his lips against Dameron's and drove into him. Hard and fast. Within seconds, Dameron tensed up beneath him, his voice ringing in Hux's ears. It was enough to make him come with the next thrust and at the same time Dameron held on tightly to him, his seed spilling between their bellies.</p><p>Next moment Hux was still lying on top of him. Breathless, his forehead stick with sweat and it took him another moment to focus on Dameron lyings sprawled out beneath him, cheeks decidedly reddened and his eyes practically shining. Slowly, Hux withdrew from him and rolled over to the side so they were lying next to each other. Somehow Dameron’s hand found his, weaving their fingers together in the breathless silence. “You called me Poe.”</p><p>So he had said it. Hux closed his eyes for a moment, willing his heart to stop racing without much success. “I apologize.”</p><p>Dameron actually laughed and he only let go of Hux’s hand for a moment to lean over the side of the bed again and drag the sheet up from the floor. He wrapped it around Hux and himself, shuffled closer and took his hand again.</p><p>“No, I think we’re there.” Dameron laughed again, his thumb tracing circles into the back of his hand.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*coughs* *coughs* </p><p>*goes off to hide somewhere*</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0030"><h2>30. Chapter 30</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Some pillow talk in this one. Nothing to be seen here.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p>Was he sounding too cheesy? He couldn't even tell anymore, but Hux's scoff suggested that he was. At least he wasn't turning away or getting up again. Instead he remained where he was, fingers squeezing Poe's. He was still out of breath and when Poe turned his head to look at him, he saw that his eyes were closed and there was a faint smile on his face. He appeared so young without the frown or the cool detached look.</p><p>Slowly, Poe lifted Hux’s hand and placed it on his own chest, right over his heart.. "Falling asleep on me already?"</p><p>Hux shook his head, his fingers twitching for a moment in Poe's hand. "No," he said with a deep, contented sigh, the faint trace of a smile on his lips.</p><p>There was no denying it. He liked that smile, no matter how hard it was to reconcile it with General Hux, the Starkiller. But somehow Poe doubted that person was even real. There was a clear difference between the man who had held a knife to his throat the moment he woke up after the battle of Exegol and the general who would put his own life on the line to try and save a couple of kids from collapsing debris.</p><p>“Now who’s thinking too much?” Hux whispered, turning his head to look at him. The green in his eyes was more prominent, the hair beautifully disheveled, parts of it up in high spikes.</p><p>Had he done that? Had he grabbed him by the hair at some point as he clung to Hux as though for dear life. Kriff it, the man was good. “I am,” Poe whispered, turning on his side and keeping Hux’s hand clutched to his chest.</p><p>“About what?” Was there resignation in his voice?</p><p>“What it would take for you to trust me outside the bedroom.”</p><p>Snorting, Hux shook his head to look up at the ceiling. “Dameron, why do you have to over-complicate things?”</p><p>So much for calling him by his first name. Well, that was that. “No, I mean it. What would it take?”</p><p>“Is this here not enough?” Hux sighed and propped himself up and Poe let go of his hand.</p><p>“You know, I don’t just let just anyone fuck me, right? And I guess the same holds true for you. So throw me a bone here.”</p><p>At this Hux actually smirked, his eyes trailing down to his chest. He gently picked up the ring and examined it as though he hadn’t held onto it for days. “What does this mean to you?” he asked, quickly changing the subject.</p><p>“My mother’s wedding ring?” Poe cocked his head and put his hand on Hux’s waist. His skin was so soft there. Without that damn uniform even the face seemed less angular, no matter how slim he was. “My mom and my dad were very much in love. My dad still hasn’t really gotten over her… It’s more than a memento, you know?” He couldn’t very well say that he intended to give the ring away only once: to the person he wanted to marry, but in their current situation Hux might just misunderstand that sentiment. “I thought handing it over to you would be enough for you to trust me when I left.”</p><p>Raising one of his eyebrows, Hux turned the ring between his fingers, then let it fall back. “Well, to be fair I didn’t think you’d be willing to risk your life for something like this. It’s just an object.”</p><p>Just an object. On the plain surface of things, yes it was. It was. And no, Poe would not have risked his life for it, especially not if it meant sacrificing the freedom of he galaxy in the process, but what they were trying to do here, as far as he was concerned, was damage control. Hux looked at him again, and it was then that Poe realized that Hux probably didn’t have an object he was attached to at all. And how could he be? The only personal item Poe had seen him with in all these weeks that was only his, was that damn knife up his sleeve. Frowning he wrapped his arm around him and pulled him close, so their bodies were flush against each other under the thin sheet. “It’s my <em>mother</em><em>’s</em> wedding ring. I don’t have much of hers, but I have this.”</p><p>A low grunt was the only answer and Hux let his head fall back on the pillow. His eyes were fixed on Poe’s chin now, his delicate fingers running up and down his spine.</p><p>Poe licked his lip, a terrible thought dawning on him. Something he had managed to ignore for the better part of their alliance. Something he was not entirely sure he wanted to know, but right now, at this moment, he thought he had to. “Armitage,” he said softly and immediately Hux eyes moved to his. Had nobody spoken his first name to him? What a shame… it was a strange one, but it lacked the severity of his last name. “What exactly did you mean when you said you took care of your parents?”</p><p>Hux didn’t answer. Instead he kept looking at him, the conflict so obvious in his eyes that Poe wondered if he regretted boasting about it before.</p><p>“I swear this’ll remain between us.”</p><p>Another smile. Not one of triumph and that said a lot when Hux chose to look him in the eye again and pushed a strand of hair from his forehead. “I killed my father,” he said quietly. “Or rather Phasma killed him. We planned it together.”</p><p>“Why?” Hux hadn’t said a single good thing about the remnants of the old Empire within the Order, but somehow this sounded more personal. Why leave it at his father when the whole regime was rotten?</p><p>“He was… not a good man.”</p><p>“Yeah, I figured that…” Poe muttered. “What do you think a man has to be to qualify for that?”</p><p>“You’re going to laugh.”</p><p>“Try me.”</p><p>“For a person to be good they should do whatever they can for the best of everyone. They should be honourable. Stick to their word…” he swallowed hard, clearly omitting a few things that his father had not done. “These are the essentials.”</p><p>Poe nodded once. “I can get on board with that…” It was a pretty high bar that Hux had set there. Always doing the best for a community instead of only relying on oneself was not easy. Poe doubted he had done that all his life. “What happened?”</p><p>“It was a long process,” Hux scoffed, turning on his back and passing a hand over his face. “Phasma and I agreed it was high time…”</p><p>“Thank you for being so vague.”</p><p>A grin was the only answer he got, but Poe couldn’t help but think that there had to be a reason why Hux was the way he was. It certainly couldn’t be possible for everyone in the Order to be this uptight about every little detail of their lives.</p><p>“Your mother? Was she like him?”</p><p>“My father’s widow is still on Arkanis as far as I know. Married to some merchant now.”</p><p>“Ah…” Poe rested his hand on Hux’s stomach and moved closer. “From that I take it that your father’s widow is not your mother.”</p><p>“No.” He looked at Poe only briefly. “He did not care for my mother or me until the Empire reached out to him and demanded he take me along in the evacuation.” He swallowed hard, took a deep breath and looked up at Poe again, considering him for a moment. Weighing out his options with a small frown on his face.</p><p>Carefully Poe brushed his thumb over the thin wrinkles there and Hux actually turned his head to kiss his wrist. A thing so small, Poe would not have considered it worth mentioning before, but in this instant it made his chest expand in a suppressed sigh.</p><p>“I was terrified of leaving with him,” Hux said quietly. “So I begged my mother to take me away. I was only five… so she did and we hid in one of the caves by the ocean. When the rebels attacked, there was a cave-in and… well.” He was not looking at Poe and that alone was enough to make Poe feel the stabbing pain in his chest as he remembered the day his own mother had died. He laid his head on Hux’s shoulder, lips to his throat.</p><p>“I’m sorry.” That explained it then. The wild panic in Hux’s eyes when the rocks had come crashing down on them. His hate for the Republic. More than anything, that ought to do it for a boy of five. If that didn’t instill a burning hate, then what would?</p><p>“I killed her.”</p><p>“No, you didn’t.”</p><p>He shrugged and put his hand on Poe’s. “No, I did. If I hadn’t begged her to take me away, she ‘d still be alive.”</p><p>Poe swallowed hard, wrapping his leg around Hux’s and pulling him a bit closer. It made sense. It made sense for Hux to turn this tragedy into a weapon. There were so few things in the Order that resembled true warmth, it was hard not to see him take this, which he must perceive as a weakness and use it to shock Poe. “How long did it take people to find you?”</p><p>“A few hours.” He shook his head. “I was fine though. I just stayed there until they found me. An Imperial officer finally showed up and dragged me off. Took me to my father and that was that.”</p><p>He said it like it hardly mattered anymore, and perhaps it didn’t. But this story changed a lot. Not only in Hux’s life, but in his actions as well. “My mom died when I was eight,” he said. “She died along with my little sister. Her A-Wing malfunctioned when they exited hyperspace… they were visiting my aunt on Corellia.”</p><p>“How do you have her wedding ring then? Were your parents separated?”</p><p>“No, they weren’t… but I couldn’t go along with her because I had school. So she gave it to me for safekeeping.” His throat grew tight at the memory. At how he had felt when his father had to give him the news. The ashen face and the eyes swimming with tears was not something he could easily forget.</p><p>"How old was your sister?"</p><p>"Five..." he cleared his throat, suddenly fighting back the tears. Hux had been five when he witnessed the death of his own mother. "She was born a year after Endor." He didn't remember anything of that time, but even he knew that the enthusiasm of peace finally engulfing the galaxy had been short lived. War had never really ended for his parents. "Do you have brothers or sisters?"</p><p>"No," Hux said. "I do not think he was too happy having a son in the first place..." He shook his head. "And in the end he was a bigger threat to the Order than your pitiful Republic. He was the one who decided to take children from parents without compensation or without them asking for it. It put the entire program into a rather perilous situation."</p><p>"With people starting to fight back?"</p><p>A grunt of affirmation, followed by a nod. "Not just that... yes, we got even more recruits, and it was cheaper, but it also brought a lot of unwanted attention to the operation. That only changed when he was dead and I took over recruitment. I was not able to change it back entirely before Ren took it away from me again, but at least compensation is back." He cleared his throat. "It would have been better for the Order to grow more slowly than plunging into a full-scale war."</p><p>"Huh..." Poe leaned over him and touched his cheek again. He was almost sure Hux was telling the truth. Not that he knew too much about the Order's recruitment programs, but it made sense. At some point the Empire's funds must have run out and it had taken them a while to find new people willing to back them up. "Is that why you had him killed?"</p><p>Hux still wasn't looking at him. "No." The answer was plain and simple and the tone said very clearly that Hux would not say another word about it. So there were more personal reasons. Why wasn't he surprised?</p><p>"Well... I'd like to know."</p><p>"Well, I'm not telling you." Hux didn't snap at him and when Poe started kissing his neck, there was not a trace of tension in Hux's body. "Those are very feeble interrogation methods, Dameron."</p><p>"Never said I was good at that sort of thing." Sitting up, he started undoing his garter belt. That silly thing would need a thorough cleaning, but it had been worth it keeping it on if only for the feeling of Hux pulling him closer by the straps.</p><p>"What are you doing, Dameron?"</p><p>"I'm not sleeping in this, and I'm certainly not sleeping in these socks." He shimmied out of the stockings and let them fall in a pile on the side of his bed. "Do you need a real blanket?"</p><p>"You're warm enough."</p><p>Poe grinned down at him and leaned over his face, fingertips tracing the side burns. "I meant what I said, you know?"</p><p>"Which one of the hundreds of foolish things you said?"</p><p>"When will you learn that those insults don't really sting if you don't mean them?"</p><p>"How do you know I don't?"</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0031"><h2>31. Chapter 31</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
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</p><p> </p><p>The soft touch against his lips was the first thing he noticed. Soft and warm. And then there was that wonderful scent in his nostrils. There were no words for it, but he knew that he liked it. Maybe a bit too much. Poe took a deep breath. He didn’t need to think or even wonder who the other person hovering over him was. The image of Hux's face, the intriguing eyes, the straight nose, those full lips and the brow that was furrowed far too often, came into his mind before anything else. It was there before his name even came to him.</p><p>He let Hux take the lead. Even now, as he was more asleep than awake, he allowed him to do whatever it was and he reacted more than anything else when he reached up and brushed his hands through Hux’s hair, evoking a small sigh from the general. Hux’s hand was resting on his chest, his knee between Poe’s legs as he bent over him, deepening the kiss.</p><p>Poe moaned softly when he felt the tell-tale shift against his thighs. “Armitage,” he breathed, “I’m not even awake.”</p><p>No protest, at the mention of his name, just a set of fingers stroking along his jaw. He wrapped his arms tightly around Hux , eyes still closed as Hux traced his ears, making a shiver run down his spine.</p><p>“Armitage…” he whispered again, when Hux replaced his fingertips with his lips, tantalizingly warm. And then Hux stopped.</p><p>Slowly Poe opened his eyes to find Hux frowning at him, his hair dishevelled and strands of it hanging into his face. “Why do you call me that?”</p><p>“It’s your name, isn’t it?”</p><p>Hux swallowed hard and nodded, though he didn’t say anything else.</p><p>“You’re not used to that, huh?”</p><p>Still no answer and Poe took his face into his hands. “I won’t call you that anymore if you don't want me to, but I think it’s nice.”</p><p>“It’s ridiculous.”</p><p>“It’s beautiful.” The word <em>soft </em>was just hanging on his lips, but he knew Hux wouldn’t appreciate it. “It suits you.” And it did. That name was intricate in a way that mirrored the complicated character of the man before him. But then again, maybe he was just being silly and thinking too much about the potential the man leaning over him carried within him.</p><p>Intricate.</p><p>Complicated.</p><p>Full of potential. Not only for galactic wide domination, but for goodness. It was there, even if Hux clearly didn’t mainly think of himself in categories of bad and good. And it was hard to think of him that way. There was no doubt that a lot of bad things had happened to him, and although that was no excuse, it was an explanation. And only because a person had done bad things themselves didn't mean they <em>were</em> bad, did it? Because he couldn't find it in him to describe Hux as <em>the bad guy</em>. Not anymore. And not only because he enjoyed sleeping with him. And yes, he might as well admit it, sleeping with Hux <em>was </em>more enjoyable than it had been with a lot of people. Not only because it could potentially be dangerous, but because there was something about this man that was more than just alluring. More than just attractive and exciting. It was more than despair and hunger for life too. He was feeling it, deep inside of him, that this was starting to get out of hand, and he had little desire to stop here and there. But he doubted Hux was feeling that, and, even if he did, that he would be willing to admit it himself.</p><p>He was actually falling for this guy, wasn’t he? This mysterious, complicated, essentially decent person with a weird personality twist.</p><p>
  <em>I am the spy.</em>
</p><p>The words had only echoed through the execution chamber for a few milliseconds before they sank in. And it had all made sense. The tips of where the Order might strike next first. The ones that had helped them intercept a prisoner transport. Then the coordinates to the Stormtrooper training facility which lay abandoned but taught them more about the Order's conditioning techniques than Finn had ever been able to tell them. And then Palpatine. A piece of news that could only come from high up in the ranks of the Order. Somehow Poe had known that someone important had switched sides, though he had kept his thoughts to himself. What would it have changed anyway? Hux had decided to stay with the Order even after he came close to blowing his own cover. There was no way he would have allowed an extraction to happen earlier in the game.</p><p>The green in Hux’s eyes was barely visible when he leaned closer again, making Poe’s heart rate pick up. Hux touched his forehead to Poe’s.  A touch somehow more intimate than that kiss.</p><p>He was brave, maybe a bit reckless, but there was no doubt that Armitage Hux was doing his best. Even in this. And Poe admired him for it. Hux could easily be more selfish than he was, and frankly, Poe wouldn't have minded that either, but this... this was truly unexpected in the best way possible.</p><p>He looked up at him, his throat painfully tight. "Armitage," he breathed again, taking a deep breath and taking his time ton study the face with the chiselled cheekbones and those beautiful golden eyelashes. The name tasted good on his tongue. It was almost scary. “I swear, I’ll only call you that when we’re alone.”</p><p>Poe felt his cock stir expectantly when he saw the eyes light up with a smile. Damn it, this couldn’t be good. But he pushed the hair out of Hux’s face anyway. It had been a very long time since anyone’s smile had affected him like this. A very long time indeed. Maybe because Hux smiled so rarely.</p><p>And then that grin vanished, only to be replaced by something almost sombre. “What are we doing here…” Hux muttered, beginning to sit up, but Poe held him tight, unwilling to feel the cool filtered air of the room instead of Hux’s hot skin on his. “Dameron.”</p><p>“You called me Poe before.”</p><p>Another moment of silence as Hux looked down at him, an almost pained expression on his face. Poe reached up to brush his thumb over his cheek. There was an almost imperceptible trace of stubble there and Poe was sure that it would catch the sunlight perfectly, lighting up his face in a golden tinge. It was enough to make him wish he and Hux had the time to waste on a beautiful planet, maybe a beach or a meadow in a forest. What a fool he was. But Hux wasn’t angry. He wasn’t scared either. He only looked at him openly, though Poe found it hard to really read him even now.</p><p>Tentatively Hux started leaning into the touch, his eyes darker. “Poe.”</p><p>Poe's heart fluttered in his chest at the word falling from Hux's lips.</p><p>"You didn't answer my question."</p><p>"You think we're messing things up?"</p><p>Hux made another attempt at an escape, but Poe only pulled him closer and turned him on his side. Immediately Hux put his arm around his waist. "I am not sure," Hux answered slowly. "I am still angry with you."</p><p>"No you're not," Poe muttered, pressing their foreheads together as Hux stiffened in his arms.</p><p>"Don't you tell me-"</p><p>"You're angry at the situation. I get it." Shaking his head, Poe touched their lips together. "And I'm sorry."</p><p>"How is that supposed to help me?"</p><p>Poe smiled and shrugged. "Might help you feel a bit better? I don't know."</p><p>Hux scoffed, but didn't turn away.</p><p>"I'll help make things right, okay? That's one of the reasons I came back. If there's a chance I can help you negotiate some kind of peace with Mon Mothma and others, I will. Just don't expect her to give in for nothing."</p><p>"You'll just start a new rebellion as soon as you can, won't you?"</p><p>Poe shrugged. "Depends on how much longer your regime will let me live."</p><p>The silence stretching between them was answer enough. Of course Hux didn't think Pryde would be willing to let him live. Poe doubted Hux hadn't thought about killing him either, though he didn't think Hux would do that now. Unfortunately Poe had been wrong before. But Hux didn't seem like that kind of person. In this, Poe would just have to trust his gut and the rapid beating of his silly little heart.</p><p>"I won't let them kill you," Hux whispered now. "I won't let them kill me either, if it can be helped."</p><p>"You're a real optimist, huh?"</p><p>"There is no use keeping up illusions. You should know that."</p><p>Poe sighed and nodded. "Fine... but for now things are calm, right? We just have to be clever."</p><p>"Well, we certainly shouldn't be rash and reckless."</p><p>Poe actually had to laugh at this. "I love your sense of humour." He'd said something he hadn't meant to say, one word that didn't really belong here, but it had come out with the rest and at least Hux wasn't frowning at him. Instead, he leaned in again, slowly starting up that kiss again. A kiss fully aimed at making him shut up. At diverting the subject away from the danger looming right over their heads. What a distraction.</p><p>Hux's tongue was almost timid when it slid along Poe's lower lip. Timid and quick. Too quick and yet tantalising enough for Poe to pull him closer by the hip. And Hux let it happen. Just like he had allowed Poe to take him into his mouth, he let Poe close one hand around his half-erect cock and stroke him gently. Every single movement evoked a throaty, half suppressed moan that Poe felt reverberating through his very bones and slowly, steadily, he knew that he was turning Hux into a quivering mess by touch alone. What could he do to him if Hux really let go?</p><p>Poe deepened the kiss, wrapping his leg around Hux's hip and pressing up his own cock against Hux's. It was pure bliss. Hux's sound of surprise vanished in Poe's mouth and for a second Hux remained stock still before moving along with Poe, holding on to him, kissing him.</p><p>If the universe had shrunk around them these past few hours, then there was nothing left of it by now but them. Nobody but Hux and his lips and the urgency building up inside of him, ready to seize them both and push them over the edge.</p><p>Hux dug his fingers into his hair, throwing back his head and letting out a long gasp as he started pulling.</p><p>"You said we should be quiet," Poe muttered, moving his lips to Hux's throat, revelling in the sweet sound of the half-suppressed moans.</p><p>"Be quiet then," Hux said and at another pull of his slender fingers, Poe moaned so loudly he was damn sure it could be heard on the Core worlds. Poe lost his rhythm as every muscle in his body started to tighten, and Hux erupted over his stomach and hand next second, trembling in Poe's arms, mouth pressed firmly against Poe's throat. One kiss, one shiver running down his spine, one small tug at his hair and Hux whispering his name, one syllable spoken with tenderness was all it took for him to come as well.</p><p>Even minutes afterward they lay there. Quiet and spent, Hux with his head resting on Poe's chest, the fingers of his right hand still buried in his hair.</p><p>His heart was still pounding but weariness was threatening to overwhelm him despite that. Hux's body was so warm, his breath a gentle breeze on Poe's skin. The gentle hum of the ship around him was almost enough to to lull him to sleep. How much longer until they arrived at their destination? Another day? And what then? What would even happen the next day when he would have to work again on coming to terms with who he had lost because of the regime that Hux was so desperate to uphold.</p><p>Swallowing hard, Poe turned his head to kiss Hux's forehead. He hated to admit it, but this was bound to go very, very wrong indeed. Especially since there was no denying that he was starting to feel almost comfortable in Hux’s presence.</p><p>No.</p><p>Comfortable wasn’t the right word.</p><p>“Thank you,” Hux whispered in a voice so low Poe could barely pick it up, but those two words only made him realize that he was bound to get his heart broken by this man sooner or later.</p><p>“Let’s get some sleep, Hugs,” Poe breathed into his hair. He felt Hux shiver under his touch as he shuffled closer. The lights were still out, but the whirlwind of hyperspace outside illuminated Hux’s face well enough. He had his eyes closed and as his head lay on Poe’s shoulder. His eyelids looked almost translucent. There was no frown on his face. No dismissive sneer around his lips and Poe couldn’t help but wonder again how long it had been since someone had held Hux like this. And how desperate for a human touch he must be if he let Poe be the one to kiss his forehead.</p><p>Poe lay still as he watched Hux drift off to sleep. His breathing became more even and though his eyelids fluttered on occasion, he didn’t move at all. Was it the strain of the past few days, or did he always fall asleep as easily? Somehow Poe wanted to find out and screw the heartbreak. The question was when that moment would come. If Hux would drop him before or after that damn talk with Pryde?</p><p>Hux sighed deeply in his sleep and wound his leg around Poe’s.</p><p>It was almost enough to make Poe think for a moment that, maybe, Hux wouldn’t drop him at all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry this chapter wasn't AS long as the previous one, but  I wanted to make a cut here before diving into the next one. Hope you guys can forgive me for making Poe a lovesick mess....</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0032"><h2>32. Chapter 32</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay.. some more feelings and politics coming up. Hux is all over the place in this one.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  
  
  <br/>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It took Hux a moment to figure out where he was when he woke up again. There was an arm around him, a firm and warm chest under his head. The steady breathing of another person close to his ear. This had rarely ever happened. But in recent weeks it had happened once.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Poe Dameron.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">To think that a day ago he would have gladly shoved him into an airlock should be more disconcerting than it was. The strangest thing about Dameron was that he had to constantly reconsider his opinions. This man was like a wave of energy. Unstoppable, but not as destructive and nonchalant about it as Ren had been. No. No, the comparison really wasn't fair. Kylo Ren only thought of himself and his power. Poe Dameron was selfish in a whole different way. In a way that, strangely enough, seemed to include Hux.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"You're awake?" came the soft, deep voice. It was pleasant, Hux had to admit. And he might as well. He had done things that were a lot more foolish since the talk with Tormac.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He swallowed hard without opening his eyes. Through his closed eyelids he could still make out the bluish whirlwind of hyperspace outside the viewport. They were still stuck in this bubble that was neither really time or space while the time aboard kept ticking away. When he looked at the chrono on his datapad he would know that it was high time for first meal and then he would inspect the cadets and the engineer's department later on, hopefully avoiding Tormac the entire time.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Dameron's arm was still lying around him, his hand resting lightly on Hux's side. Should he take him along? He had managed to erase the security footage of him entering Dameron's quarters before waking the other man for their second round, but he was not entirely sure how to evade other people when leaving this place to get to his office. A fresh uniform could be brought here easily enough but that would leave a trail. He really should not have stayed the night. But that couldn't be helped now. He was here. And despite everything, sleeping next to Dameron was oddly comforting in a way he hadn't realised he could appreciate.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Tormac asked some more about you," Hux whispered, rolling on his back and looking up at the ceiling. The compartments overhead usually held a few personal belongings and fresh shirts. Dameron had no personal things in here. None. Where did he keep them? At the base on Ajan Kloss? Had he stored them away along with the means to contact Mon Mothma? Or had he left everything behind and left those things with his father?</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Dameron was looking at a datapad he had propped up on his chest, frowning slightly. He grunted an affirmation that he was listening.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"I told him you're useful and would be disposed of when this is all over."</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Frown deepening, Dameron turned to look at him. "You sounded different a few hours ago, you know? Should I be terrified or amused?"</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hux shook his head. "I do not sleep with people I intend to kill."</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Dameron flipped the datapad so it was facing his chest. "Well, thanks for letting me know again where I stand, Hux." He let out a long breath and started sitting up, his flippant tone hitting Hux harder than he would have thought possible.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> <span class="s1">"Dameron, come on," Hux said, reaching out his hand and placing it on Dameron's knee. "If this plan succeeds there won't be any need for that at all... and if it does not, I will find a way."</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">In the end, he had almost always found a way to get the things he wanted. The few exceptions had cost him dearly however. It would not happen again, he told himself.</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Ah, we're there again," Dameron huffed, passing a hand over his face. "Once more we're talking about trust, huh? Tell you what, it goes both ways. You still don't know that? I need to know what you're up to and I need to know you have my back so I can have yours without getting myself killed in the process."</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"I trust you," Hux said bluntly, though the words felt wrong and utterly true at the same time.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"There's a huge difference between trusting someone in bed and when it comes to the really important things, Armitage."</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Hux nearly flinched at the mention of his name. What was Dameron doing here? Was this an attempt at manipulating him? His stomach clenched painfully. He had allowed Dameron to use his first name before, but this time it felt like a slap in the face. Only when Dameron looked at him again did the pain start to subside. How silly of him to even try and rely on this sort of thing. To rely on someone else for relief. To even seek it.</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Dameron touched his cheek, stroked it with his thumb and sighed. “Armitage, I want to tell you everything. I want to keep this going for as long as we can." Another sigh. "Damn it, I wish this were easier.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Easier? This was about as </span> <span class="s2">easy</span> <span class="s1"> as things would ever be. And yet he found himself leaning into the touch. “Dameron, what do you think this is?”</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“I don’t know.” Dameron sighed. “But I have this weird feeling that this </span> <span class="s2">alliance</span> <span class="s1"> crap we talked about at first was just one of my very clever tricks to make myself think it doesn't really matter.”</span></p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Hux laughed. “Yes, very clever,” he grinned as he looked up at Dameron again, whose frown was slowly but surely disappearing. Had it been a trick after all? A trick to let him go and then back again? To spy on the Order and him? Dameron was still withholding information and who could blame him really? Hux almost wished for the old resentment to return. For the anger to come back. The anger at the Resistance losing and at Dameron for putting him in even more danger.</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">No, he reminded himself. That was foolish. He was indeed one step closer to staying alive and protecting what he had built than he had been in years, even if the situation was dire. Kylo Ren was gone and the old men and women in High Command were the only obstacle left. And, for now, Tormac was being held in check.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“The thing is,” Dameron said, “I almost feel like we’ve become friends. In a way at least. You know, when it’s just us. I can’t say I understand you, or know you, but I feel like I’m starting to like you. But I have to say your talk about having me executed is not helping.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was as though his hand acted of its own accord as it captured Dameron’s fingers. Hux knew Dameron was telling the truth. He just had to look at him, and touch his pulse point to know that he was not lying. He was still not entirely sure could trust his instincts, especially not when it came to interactions with people, but he was starting to realize that with Dameron rational thought might not get him anywhere. At least not in the sense that Dameron was implying. “You’re not unlikeable per se, I have to admit.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You’re so bad at this,” Dameron said without the twinkle in his eye that Hux was expecting. Slowly, Hux sat up again and almost at the same time Dameron sat up as well, ready to embrace Hux as he straddled him. He felt the soft cock settle just right between his cheeks, one sensation that was almost enough to make him want to start all over again, but something in Dameron's expression told him that was not going to happen.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He frowned down at him, hands on his shoulders. "Dameron, are you expecting me to declare my undying love for you?"</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">"No!" Dameron's hands travelled to his hips and the datapad</span>  <span class="s1">fell to the side to rest where Hux had just lain. "Hux, I'm just saying-"</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"No, I know." Hux interrupted him. "I have never done this, alright?" The confession came abruptly and almost defensively, his voice about to rise and before he could row back and make a more impressive statement, Dameron's arms closed around his waist, effectively trapping Hux against his chest. "Dameron..."</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Let's keep working on this, huh? It's not bad, it's not making things more difficult. If anything, you could tell this Tormac guy that you're sleeping with me if he insinuates again that you and I are trying to bring down the Order or whatever."</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Baffled, Hux stared down at him. "What did you just say?"</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"I said-"</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"No, I know." Hux laughed again and the sound made Dameron grin and he felt Dameron's cock start coming to life beneath him. Had his laugh done that? The mere thought made it hard to breathe. He cleared his throat and managed a smile. "I just had a similar idea yesterday. You know... just in case things ever got out of control concerning Tormac... not that I believe this to be a brilliant idea, but-"</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"But..." Dameron's fingertips trailed up his spine. "I don't think it would help your case... but it might be just the diversion we need to sneak off the ship before they shoot us both."</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Excuse me?"</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">"You know... if push comes to shove, I'll just drag you to a hangar, throw you in a ship and we take off before anyone knows what's going on."</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Oh?" Hux prompted, raising and eyebrow at him. There was no need reminding Dameron he hadn't been able to convince him to come along with them the last time either. "Then what? You're taking me to Mon Mothma and use me like I've used you?"</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Maybe," Dameron shrugged, unfazed by Hux's words, "Or I'll just take you to a nice planet where nobody's ever heard of you and me?" He took Hux's chin between his fingers and gently pulled it closer to his own. "We could... Hide out there, make a living as farmers or whatever and then, maybe one day we'd feel differently about each other."</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">It was as though Hux could see the picture Dameron was painting. Looking into his eyes made it easy to make it come to life. A house in the middle of nowhere with a stable, maybe a few droids and acres upon acres of farmland. Of things growing. Of Dameron waking up next to him, his tan skin almost glowing in the light of the rising sun. And there was something else. High-pitched laughter coming from another room. A sound that was hard to identify and made Hux pull away. It was ludicrous. Utterly impossible. No matter how alluring it felt at that moment of false peace. But maybe... just for a few moments, he could allow himself to forget about it all. Poe made forgetting about the important things so easy. Hux closed his eyes, leaning into this new and ridiculous idea as their lips touched again. What would it be like not to feel the pressure of command every single day? What might it feel like to long for nothing but these strong arms around him or the soft touch of those lips. It was a notion he could entertain for a while, he told himself, just before he realised that, no, that was not an option at all. Slowly he pulled back, his heart aching a little as he traced Dameron's eyebrows. "Too bad you and I aren't made for that."</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was Dameron's turn to laugh at this. He leaned his head against the pristine white wall, exposing his neck at him as he did so. "I guess not," he grinned up at him, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly as he swallowed. "And I also guess I won't be able to seduce you with words alone. Damn your big brain."</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"If that was supposed to be a compliment, it is not doing its job."</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Fine..." Dameron cocked his head. "What's on the agenda for today anyway?"</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“What time is time is it?” Hux reached for the datapad and he felt Dameron's hand twitch as he picked it up. It wasn't the one he had cleared for Dameron's use after all. Not judging from the page staring up at him now.</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">With a grunt, he slipped off Dameron to sit on the edge of the bed. "FN-2187."</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Finn."</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Hux nodded. "Finn." The former Stormtrooper. The one who had turned traitor before Hux had. "What made him do it?" He asked, looking over his shoulder at Dameron. "What made him turn traitor? He was headed for a career as an officer after all." Conditioning was supposed to prevent Stormtroopers from making rash, impulsive decisions. There had only been a few occurrences after FN-2187 defected of similar incidents, but most of those had been contained easily enough.</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Dameron took the datapad from Hux to look at the picture displayed next to the text. A stern look on the standardised expression. Nothing special about the man, at least not in the picture. The hate in his eyes when Hux had seen him without the mask hiding his face a few days after his defection had been bone chilling in its determination. And Hux would gladly have watched him die. But that was before Ren really got out of control. Before the whole damn plan of the old guard was revealed.</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">"He didn't want to kill for the Order," Dameron said quietly, eyes still resting on the small screen. "He wanted to be free. And he wanted others to be free too." He bit his lip and for a second Hux was almost certain he saw a shimmer in his eyes.</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"You miss him?"</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Can't believe he's gone." There was a tone to his voice, a certain nuance that spoke volumes. Hux was almost tempted to ask if Dameron had been in love with the former Stormtrooper. It seemed so logical, especially judging from the way he was looking at the picture now. Was that maybe the reason why FN-2187 had deserted?</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">No. No, that was impossible. They could not have known each other for more than ten minutes before that TIE was shot down over Jakku.</span>  <span class="s1">But maybe afterwards? Hux felt a stab of jealousy at the thought, but he pushed it down before it could claim more space in his head. "You will only find the more basic data on him on there," Hux said quietly. The basic data were all they collected in these files. Everything else, every special report was kept securely on the net of the First Order Security Bureau and to get access to that Dameron would need a password or be very good at slicing. "I believe you know more about him than me."</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Didn't know you kept a record of his family."</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">"Of his origins, yes." There was little to be said about them. Hux had studied the file in question intensely after the Stormtrooper deserted and assumed the name Finn.</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"They're dead."</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hux nodded. "They lived on a moon in contested territory. The Chiss killed everyone dealing with the Order." Undoubtedly a tragedy, but at least those few children that had survived had found a place in the Order. "An influential family of merchants. Some ties to the Republic. They helped the Order and the Order helped them. And then we helped their son." What a way to repay the Order, Hux thought bitterly. FN-2187 would have died, had the Order not taken him and all those other children in.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"You really think..." Dameron broke off. He took a deep breath and shook his head. "Sorry. Should formulate this differently..." He bit his lip, let the datapad slide to the side again and looked back at Hux. "Armitage, I do not believe that everyone should be placed in the military without being given another choice. Taking kids, maybe even rescuing kids and using them to forward military gains is still using kids. That's not right."</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">"Not everyone has the luxury of leading a civilian life style." There was no bitterness in his tone. He was weary of this. Of having to justify the Order to him. "Those children lived to see another day. We all did. And the Order ensured that."</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Dameron didn't respond apart from the barely visible nod. "I understand what you're saying... and I guess I understand why you guys thought it was necessary. But the rest of the galaxy won't agree. There are limits to military power. Not everyone is cut out for this and you won't be able to eliminate every single person who isn't, and enslave the rest. If military rule is the only one the Order accepts then this peace you guys are aiming for will be short-lived."</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">"Yes," Hux nodded, looking down at his hands. That one word made him feel more exposed than he had all that night. He squirmed slightly and passed a hand over his face, almost recoiling at the stubble on his cheeks and chin. "The thought crossed my mind too. Especially with the fleet as diminished as it is. I really do believe your help and Mon Mothma's could help in the long term. The Order will never concede defeat and it will protect its weakness, but maybe there will be another way." And there would be. Once High Command was eliminated and replaced by a council worth of the new order.</span> </p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">"Wow, are we really on the same page here for once?” The weight of it settled between them, making it harder to breathe. The concept of what he and Poe had only just traced was overwhelming to say the least. It didn’t mean dismantling his own life, but it meant compromise. The simple truth that the Order as it was today wasn’t even half as strong as it had been ten years ago was devastating, and even then ruling the galaxy had been an ambitious idea. With their forces as diminished as they were and with Pryde at the helm, it might very well all go down in an instant. The rest of the galaxy only needed to find out that the Order was, if not a toothless rancor, then at the very least one very much past its prime. Rabid, but weakened.</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Maybe,” Hux said quietly, folding his hands in his lap. The excitement of Dameron’s touch from a few minutes ago had all but evaporated, but still he felt no need to put on his clothes. He may be intoxicated by this sudden abundance of proximity, but this was still new to him. There was no purpose to being naked in this instance, except to prolong their talk and the hint of intimacy between them. It was an intimacy he didn’t mind, and that was as baffling as anything. He still felt a twinge of embarrassement at his behaviour the previous night, but Dameron hadn’t brought it up yet, so maybe he hadn’t paid close attention.</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“C’mere, it’s not even time for that terrible stuff you guys here call breakfast.” Dameron stretched out an arm and despite his misgivings, Hux leaned back against Dameron’s chest, his cold feet slipping underneath the blanket.</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“It does what it’s supposed to do.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“I guess,” Dameron muttered, pulling Hux closer and taking his free hand to hold it close against his chest.</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I don’t think I’ve ever done this,” Hux said quietly.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What? Talked about food? That’s a shame. I’m a terrible cook.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hux found himself grinning and squeezing Dameron’s hand. “Not what I meant.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">He felt Dameron nodding next to him, the stubble on Dameron’s cheek grazing his temple. “I know.”</span>  <span class="s1">The silence that followed was filled with innuendo and Dameron’s thumb stroking the back of his hand. Dameron knew… how could he not? How could he not realize that this sort of touch was something Hux was not used to? The thought made was like a spiked thorn stuck in his chest and Hux slowly turned on his side to wrap his arm around Dameron, lips resting against this wonderful neck.</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’m still angry,” he said, fully aware that the words sounded feeble and he almost pulled away when Dameron didn’t laugh.</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“I think you’re one of the </span> <span class="s2">loneliest</span> <span class="s1"> people I’ve ever met.”</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lonely… now that was a concept Hux hadn’t thought of in years. Was he lonely? Or was he happy to be alone? And if he was, why was he so drawn to this physical warmth? To the tenderness of Dameron’s touch without caring how humiliating this was. “I’m not.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No,” Dameron said, his lips against Hux’s forehead. “Maybe not… I don’t know.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">No matter what concept applied to Hux, there was no denying that Dameron, the pilot whose file suggested that he was not only well-liked by the people under his command, but who</span>  <span class="s1">was seemingly loved by them was lonely now that they were gone. Lonely and isolated from the people he had ever cared about. Was that why he had come back to Hux? Just to be near this pathetic First Order General, who at least made it possible to forget about some of that loneliness? No… no probably not. Dameron was good at making friends. He was also probably good at finding someone to be intimate with, though Hux couldn’t be entirely sure. “All of this is so easy for you,” he said.</span></p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What? Us?” Dameron shook his head. “No, it’s not. Don’t get me wrong, I think you’re handsome, and I like sleeping with you, I love the way your voice hitches just before you come, and I really like how we work together. It’s good. But also really really hard”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Hux felt the heat rising to his cheeks. Nobody had ever said something so blunt to him. Nobody. And he couldn’t find the words to reply. Not that he needed to. Dameron pulled him closer still.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I like you, I like sleeping with you and holding you and getting you to do things you were uncomfortable with before… but I don’t know you and that’s what's making it hard. I’d like to understand you better.” If Dameron hadn’t been holding him like this, Hux didn’t know what he would have done. He was not sure he wanted Dameron to know him. These things he had said about his mother hardly mattered. His mother was dead. There was no harm in talking about her. There was no harm in telling Dameron about his father either. Nobody would believe him if he decided to tell people that Hux had Brendol killed, especially if he didn’t have the details. But everything else… that might be too much.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I think you understand me far too well already.”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Disagree,” Dameron said, reaching again for the datapad and holding it up again. Still there was that profile of FN-2187. A friend of Dameron’s. A close friend. Maybe more.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Did you sleep with him?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“No,” Dameron said, shaking his head. “I would’ve liked to date him, but he wasn’t into that kind of thing. With anyone.” He shrugged and looked down at him then. “Are you jealous?”</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Of course not.” There was no reason to be. But he was, and that irked him.</span>
</p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hm…” Dameron turned his attention back to the datapad, which Hux so foolishly had left unlocked. “Well, I’ve been going through some files on here.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">“You have.” Hux cleared his throat. Not the messages then. Just the files. It was a bit of a relief, ad yet he couldn’t find it in him to move. To shake off Dameron’s arm and sit up. The sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach was nauseating.</span> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yes.” Dameron flicked through the recently opened files. “You could’ve told me you were married, you know?”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>... Yes, you read that right. More info coming up soon. Maybe. But Hux really doesn't like talking about these things. It's exhausting.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0033"><h2>33. Chapter 33</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Ready for a non-smut chapter? Well, there you go :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>Hux was standing close to the window overlooking the training area. It was just a simulation, but the Stormtrooper cadets below were working hard to finish the objective, dodging around walls, guarding each other and protecting the other cadet who had been picked to take over the role of the hostage.</p><p>They were good, Poe thought as he stood to the side, eyes trained on the kids in their white armor rather than on Hux or the training officer next to him.</p><p>One of the cadets was hit by an enemy stunner and fell. Immediately one of the other Stormtroopers motioned for their team to cover them before abandoning their post at the rear to help the wounded comrade and their place was immediately filled. The spot which had just been vacated was covered by two other Stormtroopers moving closer together to provide cover for both the freed hostage and the wounded soldier.</p><p>“How much longer until they graduate? Three years?” Hux asked the instructor, who kept his eyes trained on the soldiers below. Their skill and determination easily made it possible to get both the hostage and the wounded cadet to the safety of the area marked as the escape vehicle.</p><p>“Two years, Sir.”</p><p>Hux nodded. “Excellent. VB-2804 was the one who abandoned their post, correct?”</p><p>“Yes, General.”</p><p>“How are their scores?”</p><p>“2804 is top of her class. She is intelligent and thinks ahead, also an excellent shot.”</p><p>“So I see.” Hux nodded as the Stormtrooper designated 2804 aimed a shot at an approaching enemy and hitting them squarely in the head  at the first attempt. Hux clasped his hands behind his back as he frowned down at the Stormtroopers who were now reunited with the opposing team clad in the Order’s typical black training gear. “Sergeant, do you think it would be advisable to transfer her to the officer training program straight away?”</p><p>“Sir?”</p><p>The corner of Hux’s mouth twitched and he seemed on the verge of looking at Poe. “If she has the talent and her skills were overlooked before it might be a good idea to advance her career early on.”</p><p>The sergeant nodded once. “Yes, Sir. I will send her transfer order directly to Captain Minler.</p><p>“Good.” Hux looked down at the cadets again. “This demonstration was most satisfactory. Keep it up.”</p><p>“Yes, General.”</p><p>Hux left the room without looking back at Poe, who kept standing there, thinking for a moment about staying put just to spite him. What the hell was wrong with that guy? Why was he angry now? Poe had only asked a question.</p><p>Slowly he looked up at the sergeant who was already back at the console in the center of the viewport, ready to address the cadets.</p><p>“Do you train pilots here as well?”</p><p>The man’s head snapped around. “No,” he said quietly. “There are only twenty training facilities for pilots within the Order, General.”</p><p>Twenty. Out of how many Star Destroyers? And how many had been destroyed over Exegol? How many pilots were even trained? Poe was tempted to ask, but he only nodded. If the guy thought Poe was trying to get as much information as possible out of him to relay to their enemies, then he would probably report it straight back to Tormac or whoever the main threat to Hux at the moment was. "Right... thanks anyway."</p><p>The sergeant only looked at him out of the corner of his eye and Poe slipped out of the observation room. Hux was waiting by the lift, his back turned to Poe, shoulders squared, hands clasped behind his back.</p><p>"Where to next?" Poe asked quietly, a bit taken aback that Hux was still there. They hadn't really spoken since that morning. Not since Poe's questions and Hux's brusque answer.</p><p>
  <em>She's dead.</em>
</p><p>It was the first thing he said after the brief stretch of silence. After sitting up and picking up his clothes. Within minutes he was gone, leaving Poe sitting on the bed, feeling foolish and with his chest aching.</p><p>Dead. Yes, he had gathered that.</p><p>There weren't a lot of information in the database about Miray Kandia apart from the fact that she was an engineer and had died three years ago on Ilum, also known as Starkiller Base. That she had a sister and a brother. That she had married Hux only a few months prior to her death. What had happened there? There was no mention of an accident or an illness. Just the date of her passing.</p><p>There were so many questions. So many things he wanted to ask Hux, but he couldn't bring himself to ask them. Not when Hux hurried out of his room as though whatever Poe might ask next might be his death. Certainly not when Hux wouldn't even look at him now. He was angry, probably even more so than he had been when Poe took that TIE to get to Ajan Kloss. This was personal, and if there was one thing Hux hated it were personal questions.</p><p>"I need to visit engineering."</p><p>The lift arrived in front of them within the blink of an eye.</p><p>"What's in engineering?"</p><p>Hux frowned at the panel inside and Poe watched as Hux rubbed thumb and index finger together. Was he nervous?</p><p>"Hux?"</p><p>The hand balled into a tight fist. "You should get to the officer's mess or the gym, Dameron. This will be boring." He stepped inside the cabin, but before the doors could close, Poe slipped in as well. "What are you doing?"</p><p>"Hux, why the hell are you upset?"</p><p>"I am not."</p><p>"Fine. Angry."</p><p>"Your presume to know me too well, Dameron."</p><p>This whole thing was frustrating to say the least. Why the hell was Hux making it all so difficult? He was not comfortable either. Not judging by the way he kept his eyes trained on the panel and the vein in his temple was pumping wildly. “Did you kill her or what happened that you’re treating me like garbage right now?”</p><p>Hux gasped once and it seemed as though he was ready to snap back. Instead he pressed his lips into a thin line. “It’s not important, Dameron, can we leave it at that?”</p><p>“No.” The answer was out before he could stop it and when the lift came to a halt, he walked out before he could say anything else. Before he could say something he might regret, because by now he was pretty damn sure that Hux was starting to grow on him, no matter how pig-headed he was.</p><p> </p><p>Poe had only been in the mess hall once and that had been a few hours ago. It was one of the few places he felt he could go without raising suspicions about what he was doing. Well, that and the gym. To be fair, that might have been the better way to go given his racing thoughts, but he couldn't bring himself to get back to his room to change. Not right now.</p><p>Better to grab a cup of synth caf and sit in a booth by one of the viewports to stare out into hyperspace than to deal with other people at the gym or with the unmade bed in his small room.</p><p>Hux had taken his own datapad along, so Poe didn't have access to the personnel files anymore and he wasn't entirely sure he was relieved about that or not. Brooding over that name and that file would do him no good anyway, but if he had it he would at least have access to a picture of Finn. That image, if nothing else, would keep him company. How sad was that?</p><p>Poe pulled a face as he took a sip from the hot brew he had taken from one of the caf machines standing around the mess. It was bitter and hot and not much else and of course there was no access to sweetener or milk anywhere nearby. The taste lingered on his tongue even a few seconds after he'd taken his first swallow. He doubted he could ever learn to appreciate it. The thought made him cringe inwardly. Hux and every other single person in the Order only knew that taste, and he was silently wishing for the good stuff.</p><p>He really was a spoiled rebel brat, wasn’t he?</p><p>Smiling bitterly he took another sip and suppressed a shudder.</p><p>
  <em>Well, it's not like these were forced to stay with the Order. They could've made different life choices.</em>
</p><p>The thought lingered in his mind like the taste of the caf. There was nothing satisfying in his own righteousness and he felt sick of himself. Bitterness was not a sentiment he was particularly fond of, but there it was. He couldn’t help feeling justified wallowing in that feeling as it settled in the pit of his stomach.</p><p>Frowning he stared down at the mug. A standardized size. Nothing unique about the black plastoid or the thick inky black liquid inside. The burning sensation in his throat and nose came as no surprise, but he still found it hard to bite back those tears. Damn it, he knew exactly why he had chosen to come back. This was his mission and he’d better see it through. Hux may not be easy to deal with and he was as closed-off as a person could be, but at least he was better than most others in the Order. At least Hux had managed to help them once before. And despite everything, despite the aching in his chest whenever he thought of the man, he couldn’t fully push away the hope that Hux would come around. Not just politically, but maybe as a person too. Why did he have to start falling for that guy? There were plenty who would be easier to deal with. It wasn’t as though he liked the pain, but the brief glimpses of that other person Hux could be, in those moment when it was just the two of them and Hux felt somewhat secure, those moments were precious.</p><p>He passed a hand over his face, feeling the stubble there, he thought of how much he wanted that person to be near him right now. It wasn’t as though he was hurt that Hux had been married, but the fact that he would not talk about it. That he would get angry when Poe asked a simple question.</p><p>But maybe it wasn’t simple at all. Maybe he had loved his wife. Maybe he still did.</p><p>Taking a deep breath, he blinked out of the viewport. Behind him he could make out soft murmuring. Officers off duty, meeting and chatting with friends. Did Hux ever come here? Or had he only done that on his old ship? Was it customary for generals within the Order to sit around here? Had he met his wife here?</p><p>His wife... Poe had looked intently at the picture, but the way she looked into the camera with those light grey eyes and short brown hair, had told him little to nothing. In that picture she was wearing that very same stoic expression that Finn and Hux had worn. Those pictures didn't mean anything to anyone. Finn and Hux and Miray Kandia all looked the same in them, but at least Poe could connect something with those images. With Miray there was nothing. Nothing but that faint, senseless twinge of jealousy in his chest. She was dead and Hux wasn't his. She was long gone and Hux wouldn't want to be with Poe anyway. And it wouldn't make sense anyway.</p><p>No, what hurt was not the knowledge that Hux had kept it from him, but the fact that he wouldn't talk about her. He had opened upon about his mother, in a way even about his father. They had at least agreed to tell each other that there was a bit more than just physical attraction between them.</p><p>And it didn't matter. Not at all. Because Hux wouldn't talk about his wife, leaving Poe completely in the dark about all of it.</p><p>He took another sip of the disgusting brew an turned his head to look around. There was not a single person around that he recognized. Not that he knew a lot of people here. A few meters to his right, in a larger booth he watched as three officers in teal uniforms were playing a version of dejarik designed for more than two players. Somewhere to their left, he spotted two women sitting opposite each other, their drinks forgotten to the side as they talked almost conspiratorially together. It made his throat go tight. There was so much intimacy in the way they were looking at each other that it made his stomach churn.</p><p>He grasped the mug, ready to down the whole rest of the caf and wander the corridors when he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. Someone in a dark grey uniform was walking towards him and Poe turned his head to look at the officer approaching his table.</p><p>"General Dameron?"</p><p>Mitaka. The younger man hovered a few feet away from Poe's table, gloved fingertips rubbing against each other as he waited for Poe to acknowledge him.</p><p>"Sit down with me, Mitaka, will you? Don't stand there like a  statue."</p><p>"Yes, Sir." Immediately he slipped into the booth opposite him, hands placed flat on the table top.</p><p>"No drink?"</p><p>"No, Sir." He swallowed hard and his Adam's apple bobbed visibly. Why had he come here if not to talk to him? Why had he even made his way over here?</p><p>Poe studied him bluntly. The man was young, in his mid-twenties at most, and seemingly uneasy in Poe's company. And yet he was already on his way of advancing in the Order. That was, if he hadn't placed his loyalty in the wrong person. If Hux fell, then so would the man who could easily be considered his right hand. Because there was no denying that Mitaka was the kind of person Hux placed at least some measure of trust in. "It's Lieutenant, right?"</p><p>"Yes, Sir."</p><p>Poe nodded briefly, gritting his teeth. The man sounded like a wind-up toy, he thought, immediately cursing himself for his impatience. He himself had attended a military academy and even if he had left behind most of the stuff drilled into him during those years after joining the Resistance, he still should remember that the Order simply operated differently. Heck, by the looks of it, he himself blended in just fine with the officers surrounding him. "How long have you been out of the training program?"</p><p>"Four years, General." Mitaka's eyes briefly darted to the caf in Poe's hand.</p><p>"Relax, Lieutenant, I'm not gonna bite your head off." He frowned despite his words. He couldn't help but think that maybe Hux had sent Mitaka here to keep an eye on him. To make sure Poe didn't run off after all.</p><p>The other man didn’t relax, though. “General Dameron, General Hux asked me to introduce you to Commander Floreen and then take you down to engineering."</p><p>"Engineering?" Poe raised an eyebrow at him, but Mitaka didn't bat an eyelash. And who the hell was this Floreen person?</p><p>"Yes, General."</p><p>Hux was heading for engineering wasn't he? So were they pretending the fight in the lift hadn't happened? Poe frowned down at his mug. Already the caf was lukewarm at best which couldn't possibly make it taste any better. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat before slipping out of the booth. "Right, let's go then," he said quietly, leaving the mug behind for one of the many server droids to pick up. It wasn't as though he had much of an option anyway, was it? And, he had to remind himself, he had to keep in mind that none of this was about him. If anything, Hux was a distraction. A damn captivating and infuriating distraction.</p><p>Poe cast one last look at the couple as he walked past them. At the way they only had eyes for each other. It was enough to make him pick up his pace.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So much still to tell and I'm already at 90 k.... What the hell am I doing here? :-)</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>You can find me on tumblr (Sourlander), on twitter (SourlanderGe) and on instagram (Sourladerwrites). I'm looking forward to chatting with you all!</p><p>Special thanks to Saklani for the prompt!! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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